Seperation
by TimeLady-12
Summary: 9/OC (time lady) Lily has been trapped in Van Statten's cell for twelve years. When her best friend from Gallifrey, the Doctor, comes and rescues her, will they finally get together for good, or will they be torn apart? First story in the series. (Series 1)
1. Chapter 1- Dalek

Chapter One- Dalek

A/N: Okay, so this story will basically be written in the Doctor's/Lily's POV. I know there are lots of stories like this out there, so I'll try and keep it as original as possible. Any similarities are coincidental.

I'd sadly like to say that I don't own Doctor Who…

"So what is it? What's wrong?" asked Rose, as the Tardis appeared in a dimly lit area with carpeting and display cases containing different objects.

"Don't know." Replied the Doctor as they both stepped out of the Tardis, looking around at their new surroundings.

"Where are we?"

"Earth. Utah, North America. About half a mile underground."

"And when are we?"

"Two thousand and twelve." Said the Doctor, moving to look at something in a display case.

"God, that's so close. So, I should be…twenty six." Said Rose, as the Doctor switched on the lights to make things become clearer. "Blimey. It's a great big museum."

"An alien museum." Corrected the Doctor. "Someone's got a hobby. They must have spent a fortune on this. Chunks of meteorite, moon dust. That's the milometer from the Roswell spaceship."

"That's a bit of Slitheen! That's a Slitheen's arm! It's been stuffed." Said Rose, with a mildly disgusted face.

"Oh, look at you."

"What is it?"

"An old friend of mine." Replied the Doctor, staring at the head of a Cyberman. "Well, enemy. The stuff of nightmares reduced to an exhibit. I'm getting old." Rose saw that the Doctor was getting lost in thought, though what he was thinking about, she wasn't sure.

"Is that where the signal's coming from?" she asked, trying to knock him out of it.

"No, it's stone dead. The signal's alive. Something's reaching out, calling for help." He reached out to touch the display case, and, as soon as one finger laid on the glass, an alarm blared out, shocking them. Armed guards rushed into the room from all sides, cutting them off from running back into the Tardis to escape.

If someone's collecting aliens, that makes you exhibit A." said Rose, trying to ease the tension.

The Doctor and Rose were escorted into an office like room, where there was an important looking man sat, looking very relaxed, behind a desk, and another man, who looked a lot younger, standing in front of him, explaining what he was holding in his hands.

"And this is the last." He said. "Paid eight hundred thousand dollars for it." This was what the Doctor, Rose and Goddard (the member of security that had led them in) walked in on.

"What does it do?" asked Van Statten, the man behind the desk.

"Well, you see the tubes on the side? It must be to channel something. I think maybe fuel."

"I really wouldn't hold it like that." Said the Doctor, butting in on the conversation.

"Shut it." Said Goddard.

"Really, though that's wrong."

"Is it dangerous?" asked Adam.

"No, it just looks silly." Said the Doctor, with a smug smile on his face, looking like he relatively enjoyed the conversation. He reached for the item, giving Van Statten a pointed look when firing bolts clicked from all around the room. Van Statten just handed him the curved, palm sized object. "You just need to be…" The Doctor stroked the artifact, making it emit a high pitched, musical note. "…delicate." He stroked the instrument in different places, making several different notes.

"It's a musical instrument." Said Van Statten, seeming relatively awed by it.

"And it's a long way from home." Added the Doctor.

"Here, let me." Van Statten grabbed the device out of the Doctor's hand, attempting to make the same sound as him.

"I did say delicate. It reacts to the smallest fingerprint. It needs precision." A few moments later, notes similar to those that the Doctor had made emitted from the instrument. "Very good. Quite the expert."

"As are you." Replied Van Statten, casually throwing the device to the side, making it land on the floor. "Who exactly are you?"

"I'm the Doctor. And who are you?"

Van Statten gave a sarcastic chuckle. "Like you don't know. We're hidden away with the most valuable collection of extra-terrestrial artifacts in the world, and you just stumbled in by mistake.

The Doctor gave him a big grin. "Pretty much sums me up, yeah.."

"The question is, how did you get in? Fifty three floors down, with your little cat burglar accomplice. You're quite the collector yourself, she's rather pretty."

"She's going to smack you if you keep calling her she." Snapped Rose, not liking his attitude.

"She's English too! Hey, little Lord Fauntleroy. Got you a girlfriend."

"This is Mister Henry Van Statten." Said Adam, looking a little uncomfortable from what he had just been called.

"And who's he when he's at home?" scoffed Rose.

"Mister Van Statten owns the internet."

"Don't be stupid. No one owns the internet."

"And let's just keep the whole world thinking that way, right kids?" said Van Statten, smirking.

"So," interrupted the Doctor. "You're just about an expert in everything except the things in your museum. Anything you don't understand, you lock up."

"And you claim greater knowledge?"

"I don't need to make claims; I know how good I am."

"And yet, I captured you. Right next to my cages. What were you doing down there?"

"You tell me."

"Those cages contain my two living specimens."

"And what are they?"

"Like you don't know."

"Show me."

"You want to see them?"

"Blimey, you can smell the testosterone." Commented Rose.

"Goddard, inform the cages we're heading down. You, English. Look after the girl. Go and canoodle or spoon or whatever it is you British do. And you, Doctor with no name, come and see my pets."

The Doctor was led down many floors of the 'museum', until they were outside a room that had two doors opposite each other, key pads outside them to open them.

"This is the first specimen we found. We've tried everything. The creature has shielded itself but there's definite signs of life inside."

"Inside? Inside what?" asked the Doctor, not liking where this was going.

"Welcome back, sir." Said Simmons. "I've had to take the power down. The Metaltron is resting."

"Metaltron?"

"Thought of it myself." Said Van Statten smugly. "Good, isn't it? Although I'd much prefer to find out its real name."

"Here, you'd better put these on." Said Simmon, handing the Doctor a pair of thick gloves. "The last guy that touched it burst into flames."

"I won't touch it then."

"Go ahead, Doctor. Impress me." Said Van Statten, pressing the code into the key pad to open the thick, metal door that the Doctor proceeded to walk through, the door then closing behind him.

The Doctor walked further into the room, stopping where he thought was near enough the middle.

"Look, I'm sorry about this. Mister Van Statten might think he's clever, but never mind him. I've come to help. I'm the Doctor." A white light blinked next to a blue glow as the 'Metaltron' replied.

"Doc…tor?"

"Impossible…"

"The Doctor?" As soon as this was said, the lights came on to reveal what many would refer to as a 'bad tempered pepperpot' being held in chains that restricted its movement. "Exterminate! Exterminate!" The Doctor immediately ran to the door, a look of terror on his face. He hadn't expected a dalek in this so-called cage. How could he? He thought they'd all been killed when he had stopped the war. Now all his efforts were for nothing. All of his people had been wiped out, a sacrifice he'd made to destroy the daleks once and for all, and now, here one was, alive.

"Let me out!"

"Exterminate! You are an enemy of the daleks! You must be destroyed!" The Doctor winced as the gun twitched, but relaxed as much as he could when he realized it wasn't working.

"It's not working." He laughed as the dalek continued to attempt and fire at him. "Fantastic! Oh, fantastic! Powerless! Look at you. The great space dustbin. How does it feel?"

"Keep back!"

But the Doctor kept striding forward until he was mere inches away, staring into the eyepiece, determined to show it he wasn't afraid. "What for? What're you going to do to me? If you can't kill, then what are you good for, dalek? What's the point of you? You're nothing. What the hell are you here for?"

"I am waiting for orders."

"What does that mean?"

"I am a soldier. I was bred to receive orders."

"Well you're never going to get any. Not ever."

"I demand orders!" shouted the Dalek.

"They're never going to come!" fumed the Doctor. "You're race is dead! You all burnt, all of you. Ten million ships on fire. The entire dalek race wiped out in one second."

"You lie!"

"I watched it happen. I made it happen!"

"You destroyed us?"

"I had no choice."

"And what of the Time Lords?"

"Dead. They burnt with you. The last great Time War. Everyone lost."

"And the coward survived."

"Oh, and I caught your little signal. Help me. Poor little thing. But there's no one else coming 'cause there's no one else left."

"I am alone in the universe."

"Yep."

"So are you. We are the same." The first part of that sentence really hit home for him. He hadn't wanted to admit that he was alone. Maybe, with a tiny chance, there would be someone else out there, someone else who had survived. He knew there wasn't, there couldn't be, but he could hope. And then there was the dalek saying they were the same. No. He would never be the same as a dalek. He did what he did to save everyone. Not to destroy them with the hate a dalek would have done. But even he was beginning to doubt that…

"We're not the same! I'm not…no, wait. Maybe we are. You're right. Yeah, okay. You've got a point. 'Cause I know what to do. I know what should happen. I know what you deserve. Exterminate." He ran over to the controls that were to the side of the room, pulling a lever that ran a huge bolt of electricity through the dalek, causing it to scream.

"Have pity!"

"Why should I? You never did!"

"Help me!"

The Doctor barely noticed as he was dragged out of the room by two guards as he made to increase the voltage.

"I saved your life. Now talk to me. Goddamn it, talk to me!" shouted Van Statten, trying to get the dalek to talk.

"You've got to destroy it!" shouted the Doctor, as he was finally dragged completely out of the room.

"The last in the universe. And now I know your name. Dalek. Speak to me, Dalek. I am Henry Van Statten, now recognize me! Make it talk again, Simmons. Whatever it takes."

Van Statten walked back out of the 'cage' towards where the Doctor was standing.

"Funny, you know. My other specimen reacted exactly the same way." Said Van Statten. The Doctor's head snapped up.

"What?"

"Yeah, maybe you know them? You know my other specimen enough."

Van Statten walked to the other door that was opposite and enter the code to open it. As the door swung open, it was clear to see that this other room was very different for the other one. While it still was dark with no windows, this one had a bed in the corner, and a small toilet and sink across the room. And there, sitting on the bed curled in a small ball, was a young girl. She had medium length blonde hair that was wavy and reached just below her shoulders, although now it was matted, dirty so it was almost brown and unkept. Her green eyes looked dull, and her face was pale. She seemed to not notice the two as they walked into the room, although she did seem to start shaking as they came near. Lily kept her head down. She knew better than to do any sudden movements. If she kept quiet, normally they just went away. She found that, if she kept quiet, nothing as bad would happen.

"We found her twelve years ago. She was found in a crater formed by her crashing to Earth. She was brought to hospital, and found that she had two hearts. A binary vascular system." Van Statten didn't miss the Doctor go wide eyed at his information. "So, my deduction is, you must know what she is, if you know what the dalek is. So…what is she?"

The Doctor merely walked forward to sit on the bed. Carefully, so as not to alert her, he placed his hand on her chest feeling her heartbeats, as though he didn't believe Van Statten's words. Feeling two heartbeats on each side of her chest, he took his hand back, looking at her face. He could tell she was extremely pretty, even through all the dirt and grime that was on her face.

"So, what's a dalek then?" asked Van Statten, getting impatient at the Doctor's actions.

"The metal's just battle armour. The real Dalek creature's inside." Replied the Doctor absentmindedly, still focused on the Time Lady in front of him.

"What does it look like?"

"A nightmare. It's a mutation. The dalek race was genetically engineered. Every single emotion was removed except hate."

"Genetically engineered. By whom?"

"By a genius, Van Statten." Said the Doctor who had got up to confront the man, getting sick of his attitude. "By a man who was king of his own little world. You'd like him."

"It's been on Earth for over fifty years." Said Goddard. "Sold at a private auction, moving from one collection to another. Why would it be a threat now?"

"Because I'm here. And it probably knows that she's here." The Doctor said, gesturing to the girl on the bed. "How did it get to Earth? Does anyone know?"

"The records say that it came from the sky like a meteorite. It fell to Earth on the Ascension Islands. Burnt in its crater for three days before anybody could get near it and all that time it was screaming. It must have gone insane."

"It must have fallen through time. The only survivor."

"You talked about a war?"

"The Time War. The final battle between my-well…our people- and the dalek race."

"But you survived too." Stated Van Statten. "And your little lady friend here."

"Not by choice."

"This means that the dalek isn't the only alien on Earth, Doctor, there's you." The girl looked up at this, as though sensing what he was going to do. "Take him to the scanner. The girl too."

The Doctor was strapped to a table that was set at an angle, his chest stripped, and chained spread-eagled. The girl was sat on the floor, curled up into a ball again as she watched, cringing when she saw the Doctor who was I obvious pain.

"Now smile!" A laser ran down the Doctor's body causing him to grit his teeth. "Two hearts! Binary vascular system. Oh! You're just like your little friend over here. I am so going to patent this." The Doctor looked towards the girl, who had tears in her eyes watching the proceedings.

"So that's your secret. You don't just collect this stuff, you scavenge it."

"This technology has been falling to Earth for centuries. All it took was the right mind to use it properly. Oh, the advances I've made from alien junk. You have no idea, Doctor. Broadband? Roswell. Just last year my scientists cultivated bacteria from the Russian crater, and do you know what we found? The cure for the common cold. Kept it strictly within the laboratory of course. No need to get people excited. Why sell one cure when we can sell a thousand palliatives?"

"Do you know what a dalek is, Van Statten? A dalek is honest. It does what it was born to do for the survival of its species. That creature in your dungeon is better than you."

"In that case, I will be true to myself and continue."

"Listen to me! That thing downstairs is going to kill every last one of us!"

"Nothing can escape the cage." Said Van Statten, as he blasted the laser again.

"But it's woken up. It knows we're here. It's going to get out. Van Statten, I swear, no one on this base is safe. No one on this planet!" Van Statten just ran the laser again, causing the Doctor to scream until an alarm blared out. "Release me if you want to live."

The Doctor was led back to the office they were in originally, along with the girl from the cell, who was having difficultly walking so had to be helped by the Doctor, who was the only one she let near her.

They walked into the office, the Doctor sitting the girl in the nearest chair, and began to look at the large TV on the wall showing the scene in the cage.

"You've got to keep it in that cell."

Lily looked up to watch the TV as a young blonde girl suddenly appeared on the screen. In Lily's opinion, she was very pretty, although she had a guilty look on her face as she spoke. "Doctor, it's all my fault."

"I've sealed the compartment. It can't get out, that lock's got a billion combinations." Said the guard on screen. Lily scoffed, causing the room to look at her.

"A dalek's a genius. It can calculate a thousand combinations in one second flat." Lily continued to watch the scene around her. It was obvious, even from when she first got there and was shown the dalek that something like this was going to happen, and she was NOT going to help Van Statten. She'd warned him when she saw it, tried the exact thing the Doctor had. Van Statten just threw her in her cell and basically tortured her. This was something she couldn't understand. If he wanted to know about aliens, why would they harm her?

Lily snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Van Statten shout.

"Don't shoot it! I want it unharmed!"

"Rose, get out of there!" shouted the Doctor. Lily could see that this girl, Rose, obviously meant a lot to the Doctor. It was pretty obvious, even for her. And, even if she didn't know her, Lily just felt the need to try and protect this girl. She owed the Doctor, so much, more than he knew at this moment considering he didn't know who she was, and she was willing to do what it took to help him.

"We're losing power." Said Goddard. "It's draining the base. Oh, my God. It's draining entire power supplies for the whole of Utah."

"It's downloading." Said Lily, quietly.

"Downloading what?" demanded Van Statten, who had suddenly advanced on her after her sudden urge to speak.

"Sir, the entire West Coast has gone down."

"It's not just energy." Said the Doctor, trying to get the attention off of the poor girl. It was obvious to him she was not well treated. Anyone could see it. "The dalek just absorbed the entire Internet. It knows everything."

"The daleks survive in me!" Lily shivered at the Daleks voice. She'd heard it screaming from her cell over the years, and although it was terrible to hear, she couldn't help but feel that it deserved it, but to hear it talk like this, full of power, it made her shiver.

"The cameras in the vault have gone down." Said Goddard.

"We've only got emergency power. It's eaten everything else. You've got to kill it now!" shouted the Doctor.

"Kill it!" shouted Lily, not wasting any time to try and change the mans mind, even though she knew it would do no good. Van Statten just ignored her.

"All guards to converge in the Metaltron cage, immediately."

The three of them waited in silence until gunshots could be heard through the video that they could no longer see.

"Tell them to stop shooting at it!" yelled Van Statten.

"But it's killing them!" argued Goddard. Lily had to be thankful that at least one of them was beginning to get some common sense with the situation, and the Doctor obviously agreed with her, as he looked slightly (you'd have to be looking quite closely for it) grateful towards the guard.

"They're dispensable. That dalek is unique. I don't want a scratch on its bodywork, do you hear me? Do you hear me?" The gunshots finally stopped as Goddard pulls up a schematic scheme of the entire base they were in.

"That's us, right below the surface. That's the cage, and that's the dalek." He said, pointing to each one in procession.

"This museum of yours. Have you got any alien weapons?" questioned the Doctor. Lily raised an eyebrow at this. She knew it was the Doctor from the war coming out. The Doctor that she had last seen hated weapons. Never used them. But war changed people, she of all people knew that. The things she had done…

"Lot's of them." Said Goddard. "But the trouble is the dalek's between us and them."

"We've got to keep that thing alive." Butted in Van Statten. "We could just seal the entire vault, trap it down there."

"Leaving everyone trapped with it. Rose is down there. I won't let that happen. Have you got that? It's got to go through this area. What's that?"

"Weapons testing."

"Give guns to the technicians, the lawyers, anyone. Everyone. Only then have you got a chance of killing it."

"I thought you were the great expert, Doctor. You and your little friend over there." Said Van Statten, gesturing to Lily, who was listening to the conversation. "If you're so impressive, then why not just reason with this dalek? It must be willing to negotiate. There must be something it needs. Everything needs something."

"What's the nearest town?"

"Salt Lake City."

"Population?"

"One million."

"All dead. If the dalek gets out, it'll murder every living creature. That's all it needs."

"But why would it do that?"

"Because it believes with every fibre of its being that they should die." Said Lily, standing up. "Humans are different and anything different is wrong. It's the ultimate in racial cleansing and you, Van Statten," she spat his name, "You've let it loose! I told you twelve years ago to kill that thing, I warned you this would happen, and now it has!" She was now mere inches from his face, and even if she was shorter than him, she was pretty intimidating. She'd been basically alone for twelve years, that was enough to develop a thick skin, and it was coming through now.

"The dalek's surrounded by a force field." Said the Doctor, a little shocked at the girl's outburst. "The bullets are melting before they even hit home, but it's not indestructible. If you concentrate your fire, you might get it through. Aim for the dome, the head, the eyepiece. That's the weakspot."

"Thank you, Doctor." Said a voice over the intercom. "But I think I know how to fight one single tin robot. Positions!" Lily zoned out. She knew, she just knew, none of that was going to work.

"We've got vision." Said Goddard, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"It wants us to see." Lily didn't watch what was on the screen. She just buried her head in her hands as she heard the men in the room scream. She was good with death, she'd seen too much, far too much, especially at the hands of the daleks.

"Perhaps it's time for a new strategy. Maybe we should consider abandoning this place." Suggested Van Statten.

"Except there's no power to the helipad, sir. We can't get out."

"You said we could seal the vault." Said Lily. She didn't like the idea, there were people down there, but they couldn't let this thing out, it would make things so much worse for everyone.

"It was designed to be a bunker in the event of a nuclear war. Steel bulkheads."

"There's not enough power." Said Goddard. "Those bulkheads are massive."

"We've got emergency power. We can re-route that to the bulkhead doors." The Doctor stared at the girl in shock. This girl was smart, he saw that. She'd been trapped here for twelve years, and yet, here she was, thinking level-headedly trying to solve the situation they were in. She reminded him so much of someone he used to know. But, no. He wouldn't get his hopes us. The chances of her being who he thought were very slim.

"We'd have to bypass the security codes. That would take a computer genius."

"Good thing you've got me then." Bragged Van Statten. Lily scoffed.

"You want to help?" asked the Doctor.

"I don't want to die, Doctor. Simple as that. And nobody knows this software better than me."

"Sir." The room looked at the screen, seeing the dalek facing the camera.

"I shall speak only to the Time Lords." Lily walked up to the screen, trying to act brave. Inside, she was terrified, she always would be of daleks, but she would never show them. She was trained to look fear in the eye, and she would do just that, no matter the circumstances.

"You're gonna get rusty." She joked. She heard the Doctor chuckle beside her, making her give a half-hearted smile. She still felt incredibly weak, and although she didn't show it on the outside, she definitely felt it.

"I fed of the DNA of Rose Tyler. Extrapolating the biomass of a time traveler regenerated me."

"What's your next trick?" asked the Doctor, mocking it.

"I have been searching for the Daleks."

"Yeah, I saw, downloading the internet. What did you find?"

"I scanned your satellites and radio telescopes."

"And?" questioned Lily.

"Nothing. Where shall I get my orders now?"

"You're just a soldier without commands." She said, trying to get a rise out of the dalek, wanting it to feel the same pain she felt at losing their species.

"Then I shall follow the primary order, the dalek instinct to destroy, to conquer."

"What for? What's the point? Don't you see it's all gone? Everything you were, everything you stood for."

"Then what should I do?"

The Doctor stepped forward. "All right then. If you want orders, follow this one. Kill yourself."

"The daleks must survive!"

"The daleks have failed! Why don't you just finish the job and make the daleks extinct. Rid the universe of your filth. Why don't you just die?"

"You would make a good dalek." The screen went blank as the Doctor just stood there staring at it for a moment. Was the dalek right? That did sound like something a dalek would say. It was true that he had a hatred for the daleks. How couldn't he? They'd basically taken everything from them. Everything. He had a right to hate them. But would he make a good dalek? He was pulled out of his thoughts when a hand slipped into his. He looked down to see the girls hand in his, her offering him a small smile, trying to comfort him.

"Seal the vault." He said. He had to stop that dalek. Rose could get out in time, she had to, but he couldn't risk it getting out. Destroying another world.

"I can leech power off the ground defences, feed it to the bulkheads. God, it's been years since I had to work this fast."

"Are you enjoying this?" accused Lily, disgusted by this mans actions. In her opinion, it was this mans fault all of this had happened. If he'd let her kill it all those years ago, none of this would have happened.

"Doctor, she's still down there."

The Doctor pulled out his phone from his coat pocket, his hand still in Lily's. He found comfort in this girl. Maybe it was because he'd found someone else after all this time of being alone, or maybe it was something else, but whatever it was, he wasn't complaining.

"This isn't the best time." Said Rose over the phone.

"Where are you?"

"Level forty nine."

"You've got to keep moving." Urged the Doctor. "The vault's being sealed off up at level forty six."

"Can't you stop them closing?"

"I'm the one who's closing them. I can't wait and I can't help you. Now for God's sake, run."

"Done it. We've got power to the bulkheads." Said Van Statten.

"The daleks right behind them." Added Goddard.

"We're nearly there. Give us two seconds."

"Doctor, I can't sustain the power. The whole system is failing. Doctor, you've got to close the bulkheads."

"I'm sorry." Said the Doctor, over the phone. He hit enter taking a deep breath, hearing alarms signaling the bulkheads were closing, trying to convince himself he made the right decision. The room was silent for a moment as they waited.

"The vault is sealed."

Lily let go of the Doctors hand, walking to the other side of the room. She was beginning to sway from being stood up too long; her energy was leaving her, slowly but surely. Nothing mega serious, but it still worried her.

"Rose, where are you? Rose, did you make it?" Lily heard him say from the other side of the room. She watched his face fall as she began speaking from the other end. She hadn't made it in time. "I killed her." He said, hanging up the phone, putting it in his pocket, before dropping his arm to his side.

"I'm sorry." Said Van Statten, although in Lily's opinion, he didn't sound as sorry as he should have.

"I said I'd protect her. She was only here because of me, and you're sorry? I could've killed that dalek in its cell, we both could have, but you stopped us!" he yelled, gesturing to Lily as well, showing them they were referring to her.

"It was the prize of my collection!"

"Your collection? But was it worth it? Worth all of those men's deaths? Worth Rose? Let me tell you something, Van Statten. Mankind goes into space to explore, to be part of something greater."

"Exactly! I wanted to touch the stars!"

"You just want to drag the stars down and stick them underground, underneath tons of sand and dirt, and label them. You're about as far from the stars as you can get. And you took her down with you. She was nineteen years old." The room was silent, until the doors opening at the end snapped everyone out of their mourning. The Doctor was quick to his feet as Adam entered. Lily could only assume that he was with Rose, and had made it through while she didn't.

"You were quick on your feet, leaving Rose behind!"

"I'm not the one who sealed the vault!"

The Doctor was about to reply, before the dalek appeared on the screen, along with Rose.

"Open the bulkhead or Rose Tyler dies."

"You're alive!"

"Can't get rid of me." She joked. Lily chuckled at her optimistic attitude.

"I thought you were dead."

"Open the bulkhead!" demanded the dalek.

"Don't do it!"

"What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?" The Doctor looked stunned at this. He didn't love Rose. She was like a best friend to him. He cared for her, yes, he had a responsibility to care for her, but he didn't love her.

"I killed her once. I can't do it again." He pressed a button on the desk, opening the bulkheads, Rose and the dalek walking through it.

"What do we do now, you bleeding heart?" asked Van Statten, finally beginning to panic at the situation at hand. "What the hell do we do?"

"Kill it when it gets here." Suggested Adam.

"All the guns are useless, and the alien weapons are in the vault."

"Only the catalogued ones."

Lily followed the Doctor and Adam down to his workshop. There was no way she was going to be left alone in a room with the people who had basically tortured her for twelve years. No. She was staying with the Doctor.

"Broken. Broken. Hairdryer." He said, rummaging through the 'weapons'.

"Mister Van Statten tends to dispose of his staff, and when he does he wipes their memory. I kept this stuff in case I needed to fight my way out one day."

"What, you in a fight? I'd like to see that."

"I could do."

"What're you going to do, throw you're A-Levels at 'em? Oh, yes. Lock and load." Lily watched as he pulled out a huge gun. Somehow, it didn't look right. The Doctor and a gun were not meant to be in the same sentence.

Lily walked beside the Doctor as they made their way towards the dalek. They found it on level one, with a hole blasted through the roof.

"Get out of the way, Rose!" he shouted. He knew daleks, they never changed, it would just kill, it would never stop, and if Rose didn't move, he wouldn't be able to stop it.

"No. I won't let you do this."

"That thing killed hundreds of people."

"It's not the one pointing the gun at me."

"I've got to do this. I've got to end it. The daleks destroyed my home, our home." He said, tilting his head to gesture to Lily. "Our people. We've got nothing left."

"She's like you?" Rose asked about Lily. The Doctor nodded. "But, look at it."

"What's it doing?"

"It's the sunlight, that's all it wants."

"But it can't."

"It couldn't kill Van Statten, it couldn't kill me. It's changing. What about you, Doctor? What the hell are you changing into?"

"I couldn't. I wasn't. Oh, Rose. They're all dead."

"Why do we survive?" Asked the dalek.

"I don't know."

"I am the last of the daleks."

"You're not even that. Rose did more than regenerate you. You've absorbed her DNA. You're mutating."

"Into what?"

"Something new, I'm sorry."

"Isn't that better?" asked Rose.

"Not for a dalek."

"I am a dalek! I will have orders! Exterminate! Exterminate!" The dalek started firing in all directions, causing the others to try and avoid the shots. The Doctor looked up to see Lily be shot, a beam of light from the shot going straight through her. He didn't pay any attention to the dalek that was now ordering self destruct from Rose. He didn't look up to see it destroy itself.

Lily was lying on the floor, her face screwed in pain as she tried to fight off the regeneration energy.

"Come on, just regenerate." Said the Doctor, looking at her, almost in tears. He couldn't be on his own again, not when he had just found someone again.

"You always were the emotional one." Lily joked.

"Who are you?" asked the Doctor, confused as to why she said that.

"It's Lily." She said, her hands now starting to glow an orangey-yellow colour.

"Lily?" The Doctor's eyes widened. Here she was, his best friend, the girl he had sworn to never leave, to always protect, was now here, basically dying in his arms. She'd survived, and he honestly couldn't be happier. She WOULD make it through this.

"Long time no see."

"Doctor, what's happening?" asked Rose, who was standing a little way away from the two of them, watching what was happening.

"She's regenerating." Said the Doctor, who had moved to stand next to her, as, in a sudden burst of light, Lily was suddenly surrounded by light, lighting up the whole corridor, causing the other two to shield their eyes from the brightness. About a minute or two later, there, lying in Lily's spot, was a girl with brighter blonde hair that fell past her shoulders. Her eyes were now brown and you could see the outline of dimples that would be more prominent when she smiled. In the Doctor's opinion, this Lily was even more beautiful than the last one, even if he didn't know it was her at the time.

Lily stood up, feeling uneasy on her feet, looking at the Doctor and Rose. Rose was standing their shocked at what had just happened, whereas the Doctor was staring at her with a smile on his face, as if he couldn't believe it was her. She ran over to him, granted it was with difficultly, and leapt into his arms, giving him a hug. She felt full of energy; she always did after regeneration, so she settled for dragging the Doctor back towards the Tardis, eager to get out of there, finally. She knew where it was, she'd seen where the Doctor parked it from his thoughts. She'd always been able to read his mind. Although Time Lords were a telepathic race, they were only able to hear basic thoughts from other Time Lords. To let someone else completely into your head was a huge thing, hardly anyone did it, it was that big, but the Doctor and her had done it when they were young. Everyone argued that they were too young to do it, but they didn't care. They were best friends, they swore never to have secrets, and that seemed like the best way to do it.

They'd just reached the Tardis, and were about to go in, when Adam came rushing down the corridor.

"We'd better get out. Van Statten's disappeared. They're closing down the base. Goddard says they're going to fill it full of cement, like it never existed."

"About time." Said Rose.

"I'll have to go back home."

"Better hurry up then. Next flight to Heathrow leaves at fifteen hundred hours."

"Adam was saying that all his life he wanted to see the stars." Said Rose.

"Tell him to go and stand outside, then."

"He's all on his own, Doctor, and he did help."

"He left you down there."

"So did you."

"What're you talking about? We've got to leave." Butted in Adam.

"Plus, he's a bit pretty."

"I hadn't noticed." The Doctor looked at Lily to see what she was thinking. Granted, she didn't look very happy, having someone who reminded her of her time here in the Tardis where she should feel safe, but, seeing his gaze, she gave a brief nod and a smile, basically saying 'whatever you want to do'.

"On your own head." The three of them walked inside the Tardis, Lily looking around in awe when Adam followed them in.

"I can't believe I'm in the Tardis!" squealed Lily. "I always dreamed when I was in this place that you'd come and save me and we'd take off in this and explore the universe like we always said, and now we can!" she ran around the Tardis taking it all in, when she suddenly swayed, and fell to the ground, the Doctor catching her before she hit her head.

"Is she ok?" asked Rose, worried for the girl.

"It's fine. Her body is just resting after all the energy it took from the regeneration." The Doctor waved off. He couldn't believe it. He had his best friend back, and now, he wasn't going to let anything take her away from him again.

A/N: ok, so I know there wasn't a lot of Doctor/Lily interaction here, but it was just a warm up chapter. I really wanted to get through their reactions towards the dalek, and hopefully that will come across in the later chapters as well. I'll try and update at least twice weekly, hopefully more so the story will move on pretty quickly. Just so you know, this is Lily's 9th incarnation, so she was on her 8th when she was in Van Statten's cell. I wanted it to be the 9th Lily with the 9th Doctor and so on. I just feel that would give them something more in common. I imagine her new self to look like Hilary Duff with long curly hair. I'll put it on the cover image soon!

Please remember to review and favourite. It means a lot!


	2. Chapter 2- The Long Game

Chapter Two- The Long Game

A/N: Ok, so this is the second chapter of Separation. I'm not so sure on the name, so if you have any suggestions, make sure to let me know via reviews or something! I'll try to make more scenes between the Doctor and Lily. I want their relationship to be back to mega close by the end of the series, and hopefully you'll know more about their backgrounds via flashbacks or something. I want to add that this will probably be a story where Rose isn't the jealous type because she loves the Doctor or anything. She'll probably just think of him as a best friend or something, just so ya know...

The Doctor had left the Tardis in the vortex for about a day, waiting for Lily to wake up. It normally took about a day for the body to recover and for them to wake up, and the Doctor hadn't left her side for more than a minute. All he wanted to do was talk to her, to know what had happened during the war, to find out how she came to be in Van Statten's cell. When he'd stopped the war, he honestly thought that she was dead. That was one of the reasons he had done it. The one thing in his life, he had thought was gone, he wasn't about to let her death be in vain.

They'd been best friends when they were in the academy. She was one year younger than him, so she wasn't in many of his classes. They'd met when they were both in the library. She needed a book that he had had, and as soon as he saw her, he really couldn't resist giving her the book. He had no idea why he'd done it at the time, given a random girl a book he needed, but he was glad he had. They'd been inseparable ever since. Spending every possible moment together. And honestly, he wouldn't take back a single second. Not one.

He was brought out of his thoughts by feeling a twitch in his hand. He was holding her hand, he had been since he had brought her to his room (he was planning on having the Tardis make her a room, but he didn't want her to see it until it was finished), and he looked down to see Lily's hand moving.

Her eyes fluttered open, glancing around the room before focusing on the Doctor's face, a small smile coming onto her own. For a moment, she had thought that everything had been a dream, and she was back in her cell at the so-called 'museum'. But, no. She was in the Tardis with the Doctor, just like they'd always planned when they were children.

"Hey." She said, trying to break the silence. They'd probably spent a good two minutes just smiling at each other. Not that that was weird. They'd do that all the time and not notice.

"Hello." He replied.

Lily swiveled round in the bed so her feet were hanging off the side, and stood up. She noticed she was still in her old clothes. Since she wasn't given, well anything really, back in the museum, they were filthy and had rips and tears everywhere. Lily was amazed they were still in relatively one piece. "Is the wardrobe anywhere around?"

The Doctor chuckled. "I'll show you." The Doctor led her out of his room down a hallway until they were in the main console room. Here, Rose and Adam were sat around, not really doing anything apart from having a quiet conversation. The Doctor was about to lead Lily down another hallway until she stopped.

"Can Rose come? I mean, if she doesn't mind. It's just that…I'm not good with fashion-y stuff, and I would like to get to know her, you know? If that's not too much trouble…"

She drifted off. At the moment, she wasn't that good with new people, but Rose seemed nice enough, and she wanted to get to know her, and no time like the present, she thought.

The Doctor chuckled at her stuttering, and went off to get Rose. He came back not a minute later with the girl following, a huge smile on her face. Lily took this as a good sign. "Rose'll show you to the wardrobe. She knows where it is, she goes in it enough."

"Oy!" said Rose, whacking the Doctor on the arm before taking Lily's hand and half dragging her along. "So, you know the Doctor then?" she said, trying to make conversation. She saw the looks the Doctor had given the girl when she had said her name after she had been shot. He would constantly smile, and look at her like he was amazed she was even there.

"Yeah…we were best friends on our planet. We did everything together…" Lily drifted off, a smile on her face just thinking about all the memories they shared together.

"Did he do that thing where he only said half a sentence and not finish the rest, and look at you like you were supposed to know what he was going to say?"

"All the time!" laughed Lily.

By the time they had finished the conversation and reached the wardrobe (it seemed like miles away to Lily); Lily could honestly say that she loved the girl. They had quite a lot in common and she found the girl hilarious. She wasn't stupid, she knew a lot about Earth, it was her favourite planet, but sometimes she had no idea what the girl was saying, and she enjoyed learning new things about the culture.

They emerged out of the wardrobe a good hour later both wearing different outfits. Lily was in a dark pair of tightly fitted jeans, a white tank top, a black, studded leather jacket and some cherry-red Dr. Martins that she absolutely adored. She had her hair in a side braid.

They walked into the console room to find it silent. The Doctor and Adam were at two different ends of the room, like they were ignoring each other. A silent agreement was made between the two girls, Lily to go to the Doctor, and Rose to go to Adam.

"Lily!" greeted the Doctor. "You look nice." Lily beamed at that statement, a small blush coming onto her cheeks that she managed to cover up before he noticed. "I've landed the Tardis. Want to go and see where we are?" he asked. He knew she always dreamed of going to new places, exploring, and now they were.

Lily wasted no time rushing to the door, stepping out onto what she assumed at first glance to be a space station. A grin came onto her face. She seriously needed to do something to thank the Doctor for this, even if he said it wasn't needed.

The Doctor and Rose followed her out of the Tardis, laughing at the girls antics. Lily was one of those people you couldn't hate. She had an innocence to her, although the Doctor knew she could change within a heartbeat if provoked.

"So, it's two hundred thousand, and it's a spaceship." Lily gave him a look. "No, wait a minute, space station." She grinned. "And…er, go and try that gate over there. Off you go." He said to Rose.

"Two hundred thousand?" she asked.

"Two hundred thousand."

"Right." She opened the Tardis door. "Adam, out you come." Lily watched Adam come out and watched his jaw drop and his eyes widen. She knew she would love seeing people's reactions the first time they traveled with her and the Doctor. It was the look of wonder that came across their faces that really made her smile.

"Oh, my God."

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it."

"Where are we?"

"Good question. Let's see. So, er, judging by the architecture, I'd say we were around the year two hundred thousand. If you listen…engines. We're on some sort of space station. Yeah, definitely a space station. It's a bit warm in here. They could turn the heating down. Tell you what- let's try that gate. Come on!" Lily followed Rose as she led the way, nudging her in the side.

"I wonder how you knew all that, eh?" she joked, knowing that Rose was just trying to impress Adam. Rose just gave her a sheepish smile that made Lily chuckle. The gate had led to a massive window that gave a view to Earth.

"Here we go! And this is. I'll let the Doctor describe it."

"The fourth great and bountiful Human Empire. And there it is, planet Earth and its height. Covered with mega-cities, five moons, population ninety six billion. The hub of a galactic domain stretching across a million planets, a million species, with mankind right in the middle." The Doctor took hold of Lily's hand, making her smile. She was about to say something when she heard a 'thud' come from the side of her. She looked down to see Adam lying on the floor, unconscious. "He's your boyfriend."

"Not any more." Replied Rose. Lily laughed at the girl's expression. She was torn between laughing that he had fainted, and feeling bad that he had…well, fainted.

The four of them made their way to the main part of the space station, which bristled with people, making them swerve to avoid everyone.

"Come on, Adam." Called the Doctor. "Open your mind. You're going to like this. Fantastic period of history. The human race at its most intelligent. Culture, art, politics. This era has got fine food, good manners." Lily pulled him back as a man came out of nowhere.

"Out of the way!" All of a sudden, food vending stations opened everywhere, people flocking to get in line.

"Thank you very much indeed. Somebody there? That's great. What do you want, love? All right, keep moving. I'll be with you lot in a minute. Here you are. One at a time. What now, what was it? Kronkburger with cheese, kronkburger with pajatos. Do you want a drink? Oi, you mate. Stop pushing. Get back. I said, get back!"

"Fine cuisine?" said Rose.

"Good manners?" added Lily, wanting to tease the Doctor.

"My watch must be wrong. No, it's fine. It's weird."

"That's what comes of showing off. Your history's not as good as you thought it was." Said Rose.

"The Doctor was right about the year." Said Lily.

"My history's perfect."

"Well, there was that one time when you were about…what? Two thousand years out?" teased Lily.

"Shut up, that was an easy mistake to make. They'd done a very good job at restoring that castle." Said the Doctor, trying to defend himself, even though he wasn't really offended. To be honest, he didn't care what Lily said. He was just so happy to have her there, laughing and happy and ALIVE.

"They're all human. What about the millions of planets, the millions of species? Where are they?" asked Adam, not noticing the playful banter between the two Time Lords.

"Good question. Actually, that is a good question. Adam, me old mate, you must be starving." Lily gave him an odd look at his sudden change in attitude at the boy.

"No, I'm just a bit time sick."

"No, you just need a bit of grub. Oi, mate- how much is a kronkburger?"

"Two credits twenty, sweetheart. Now join the queue."

"Money, we need money. Let's use a cashpoint."

"What were you gonna use, a recycling bin?" asked Lily playfully. She, after all, had many years of teasing to get in. The Doctor rolled his eyes as he flashed the point with his sonic screwdriver, producing a plastic card which he gave to Adam.

"There you go, pocket money. Don't spend it all on sweets."

"How does it work?" asked Adam, a confused look on his face.

"Go and find out. Stop nagging me. The thing is, Adam, time travel's like visiting Paris. You can't just read the guidebook, you've got to throw yourself in. eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double and end up kissing complete strangers." Rose could have sworn when the Doctor said that that his eyes flickered to Lily, who remained oblivious to the whole thing. "Or is that just me? Stop asking questions, go and do it. Off you go, then. Your first date."

"And yours." Replied Rose with a knowing smile between the two aliens, who gave her a shocked and puzzled look at what she meant. Rose just smirked at them before following Adam.

The Doctor grabbed Lily's hand again and walked over to where two women where standing. He hadn't noticed he'd been holding her hand a lot. He seemed to do it whenever they went anywhere. He wouldn't think, he'd just do it. Lily didn't seem to mind, she didn't say anything, so he just carried on doing it.

"Er, this is going to sound daft, but can you tell me where I am?" asked the Doctor when they'd reached the women.

"Floor one three nine. Could they write it any bigger?" replied a black women with braids.

"Floor one three nine of what?"

"Must have been one hell of a party."

"You're on Satellite Five." Said the other woman, who was giving them a small smile.

"What's Satellite Five?"

"Come on, how could you get on board without knowing where you are?" asked the first woman.

"Look at me, I'm stupid."

"Yeah." Added Lily. "This one time when we were kids…" she was cut off by the Doctor putting his hand over her mouth, trying to give her a stern look by failing as a smile appeared instead. He always loved it when she never knew when to stop talking. She always said the cutest things which would make him laugh.

"Hold on, wait a minute. Are you a test? Some sort of management test kind of thing?" asked the second woman.

"You've got us. Well done. You're too clever for us." He held up his psychic paper to the women, which said God only knows what to Lily, but it seemed to convince the other two.

"We were warned about this in basic training. All workers have to be versed in company promotion."

"Right, fire away, ask your questions. If it gets me to floor five hundred I'll do anything."

"Why, what happens on floor five hundred." Asked Lily.

"The walls are made of gold. And you should know, little miss management." Lily scowled at the nickname. Seriously? "So, this is what we do." She walked them over the wall, where a series of screens were lined up, each playing a different channel. "Latest news, sandstorms on the new Venus archipelago. Two hundred dead. Glasgow water riots into their third day. Space lane seventy seven closed by sunspot activity. And over on the Bad Wolf channel, the Face of Boe has just announced he's pregnant." Lily exchanged a look with the Doctor. Something felt wrong here.

"I get it. You broadcast the news." Said the Doctor, trying to figure anything out that was out of the ordinary.

"We are the news. We're the journalists. We write it, package it and sell it. Six hundred channels all coming out of Satellite Five, broadcasting everywhere. Nothing happens in the whole human empire without it going through us."

"Show us." Said Lily. She had a very uneasy feeling about being here. At first, she just thought she was getting used to being out and about after being locked up, but now…after seeing all this, it was like they were behind in history, and it was _wrong_.

"Oi! Mutt and Jeff! Over here!" The Doctor called over to Rose and Adam, who walked over. Lily elbowed him in the side. "Oi! What was that for?"

"Don't be so rude."

The four of them were led to an octagonal desk that went around a central chair with wires coming out of it. They watched as the black woman from before, Cathica, sat in the central chair, where other people sat around her.

"Now, everybody behave. We have a management inspection. How do you want it, by the book?"

"Right from scratch, thanks."

"Okay. So, ladies, gentlemen, multi-sex, undecided or robot,- my name is Cathica Santini Khadeni. That's Cathica with a C, in cases you want to write to floor five hundred praising me, and please do. Now, please feel free to ask any question. The process of news gathering must be open, honest and beyond bias. That's company policy."

"Actually." Said Suki. "It's the law."

"Yes, thank you Suki. Okay, keep it calm. Don't go showing off for the guests. Here we go." Lily watched as they all got into position, the people on the outside placing their hands over the desk, and Cathica clicking her fingers, causing a 'portal' like thing to open in her forehead, showing her brain. Yes, this was definitely wrong, behind in time. Not by much, but enough to change history that seemed for sure. "And, engage safety." Lights suddenly came on across the room. "And three, two, and spike." Lily watched as a beam of light went directly into her head. Lily didn't really understand humans at the best of times, but she really couldn't understand why someone would want to make a hole in the middle of their head.

"Compressed information, streaming into her. Reports from every city, every country, every planet, and they all get packaged inside her head. She comes part of the software. Her brain is the computer." The Doctor explained to Rose and Adam. He knew that Lily most likely already knew that. She was smarter than even him at most things. Common sense she wasn't that good at, but she had far greater knowledge than so many people.

"If it all goes through her, she must be a genius." Commented Rose.

"Nah, she wouldn't remember any of it. There's too much. Her head'd blow up. The brain's the processor. As soon as it closes, she forgets."

"So, what about all these people round the edge?"

"They've all got tiny little chips in their head, connecting them to her, and they transmit six hundred channels. Every single fact in the empire beams out of this place. Now that's what I call power."

Lily walked off of the platform they were on to go and take a closer look, frowning as she did so.

"You all right?" Rose asked Adam, who looked a big queasy.

"I can see her brain."

"Do you want to get out?"

"No. No, this technology, it's amazing."

"This technology's wrong." Said Lily, making her way back to the platform.

"Trouble?"

"Yep."

The two smiled at each other, before their attention was pulled away by Suki, who had pulled her hands away from the desk as if she had just received an electric shock, which causes the other six people around the edge to lift their hands, the information beam then shutting down and Cathica's head closing.

"Come off it, Suki. I wasn't even halfway. What was that for?"

"Sorry, it must have been a glitch."

"Oh."

Lily walked over to the women, knowing full well that it was more than just a glitch. She was about to say something, when suddenly the wall in front of her lit up.

"Promotion."

"Come on. This is it. Come on. Oh God, make it me. Come on, say my name, say my name, say my name." begged Cathica, making the others to look at her in confusion.

"Promotion for…Suki Macrae Cantrell. Please proceed to floor five hundred."

"I don't believe it. Floor five hundred."

"How the hell did you manage that? I'm above you."

"I don't know. I just applied on the off chance, and they've said yes!" Suki turned around to Lily, giving the girl a quick hug, which Lily unsurely returned. It wasn't that she didn't like hugs, she was a very hug-sy person, but she had a bad feeling about this promotion, and when she had bad feelings, they were usually right. It wasn't that she was psychic or anything like that, but she could get a feel of the place when she was there, and she was getting a bad feeling now…

"That's so not fair. I've been applying to floor five hundred for three years."

"What's floor five hundred." Asked Rose.

"The walls are made of gold." Said Lily, giving the Doctor an uneasy look which he returned.

The four visitors followed Suki and Cathica towards the lift, where Suki dropped her bags and went to say goodbye.

"Cathica, I'm going to miss you. Floor five hundred, thank you!"

"We didn't know anything." Said the Doctor, his arm around Lily's shoulders.

"Well, you're my lucky charms."

"All right, I'll hug anyone." He said, letting go of Lily and giving Suki a hug.

"Oh, my God, I've got to go. I can't keep them waiting. I'm sorry. Say goodbye to Steve for me. Bye!"

"You're talking like you'll never see her again. She's only going upstairs." Lily gave him a sad, pointed look as Cathica said,

"We won't. Once you go to floor five hundred you never come back."

"Have you ever been up there?"

"I can't. You need a key for the lift, and you only get a key with promotion. No one gets to floor five hundred except for the chosen few."

The Doctor and Lily followed Cathica back towards the newsroom. Lily didn't really see why they were following the woman. It was obvious that she didn't want them following her anyway, and she was pretty annoying in Lily's opinion. If her friend had got promoted, she would have at least been happy for them, even if something felt wrong, so she just settled for sitting in the central chair while the Doctor spoke to her.

"Look, they only give us twenty minutes maintenance. Can't you give it a rest?" she asked.

"But you've never been to another floor? Not even one floor down?"

"I went to floor sixteen when I first arrived. That's medical. That's when I got my head done, and then I came straight here. Satellite five, you work, eat and sleep on the same floor. That's it, that's all. You're not management, are you?"

"At last. She's clever." Lily sniggered.

"Yeah, well, whatever it is, don't involve me. I don't know anything."

"Don't you even ask?"

"Well, why would I?"

"You're a journalist. Why's all the crew human?"

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"There's no aliens on board. Why?"

"I don't know. No real reason. They're not banned or anything."

"Then where are they?"

"I suppose immigration's tightened up. It's had to, what with all the threats."

"What threats?" asked Lily, now interested.

"I don't know all of them. Usual stuff. And the price of space warp doubled so that kept the visitors away. Oh, and the government on Chavic Five's collapsed, so that lot stopped coming, you see. Just lot's of little reasons, that's all."

"That all add up to one big reason, and no one has noticed."

"Lily, Doctor, I think if there was any kind of conspiracy, Satellite five would have seen it. We see everything."

"We can see better. This society's the wrong shape, even the technology."

"It's cutting edge."

"It's backwards. There's a great big door in your head. You should've got rid of this years ago."

"So, what do you think it going on?" asked Rose.

"It's not just this space station, it's the whole attitude." Replied the Doctor. It's the way people think. The great and bountiful human empire's stunted. Something's holding it back."

"And how would you know?" asked Cathica.

"Trust me, humanity's been set back about ninety years. When did satellite five start broadcasting?"

"Ninety one years ago."

The Doctor and Lily exchanged a look, before running out of the room, Rose following them, towards a pair of double doors that held the maintenance screens.

"We are so going to get in trouble. You're not allowed to touch the mainframe. You're going to get told off." Said Cathica, anxiously looking around.

"Rose, tell her to shut up." Said Lily, really getting sick of her attitude. The Doctor smiled at her bluntness. She'd always been blunt, even when they were children, and he loved it when she was, he found what she said funny.

"You can't just vandalize the place. Someone's going to notice!" The Doctor just ignored her, and carried on scanning the maintenance. "This is nothing to do with me. I'm going back to work."

"Go on, then. See ya!"

"I can't just leave you, can I?"

"If you want to be useful, get them to turn the heating down. It's boiling. What's wrong with this place? Can't they do something about it?" asked Rose.

"I don't know. We keep asking. Something to do with the turbine."

"Something to do with the turbine." Mocked Lily.

"Well, I don't know!"

"You don't know much do you?"

"Exactly." Agreed the Doctor. "I give up on you, Cathica. Now, Rose. Look at Rose. Rose is asked the right kind of question."

"Oh, thank you."

"Why is it so hot?"

"One minute you're worried about the empire and the next it's the central heating!"

"Well, never underestimate plumbing. Plumbing's very important."

"Haha, trust me, he would say that." Said Lily. "There was this one time in the Academy when a pipe in his bathroom broke. He never told anyone and kept putting it off to fix it. Next thing we know, his entire rooms flooded!"

"Yes, yes, very funny. Anyway, look at these schematic's." said the Doctor, trying not to laugh at the memory. Lily had made him leave it flooded for a while so she could use it as a swimming pool. "Satellite five, pipes and plumbing. Look at the layout."

"This is ridiculous!" exclaimed Cathica. "You've got access to the computer's core. You can look at the archive, the news, the stock exchange and you're looking at pipes?"

"But there's something wrong."

"I suppose."

"Why, what is it?" asked Rose.

"The ventilation system. Cooling ducts, ice filters, all working flat out channeling massive amounts of heat down." Said Lily.

"All the way from the top." Added the Doctor.

"Floor five hundred."

"Something up there is generating tons and tons of heat."

"Do you always finish each other's conversations like that?" asked Rose.

"Sometimes." Said Lily.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I feel like I'm missing out on a party. It's all going on upstairs. Fancy a trip?"

"You can't. You need a key." Said Cathica.

"Keys are just codes, and we've got the codes right here. Here we go. Override two one five point nine." Said Lily, getting the code up on the monitor.

"You are brilliant." Beamed the Doctor.

"How come it's given you the code?" asked Cathica.

"Someone up there likes us."

"Come on. Come with us." Said Rose.

"No way." Replied Cathica. Lily was very grateful for this. It seemed that this incarnation had a short temper for people who got on her nerves. She didn't want to shout at this woman, but if she carried on annoying her, no doubt she would.

"Bye!"

"Well, don't mention my name. When you get in trouble, just don't involve me." Lily smiled as Cathica left and the lift doors closed. Finally.

"That's her gone. Adam's given up. Looks like it's just us three." Said the Doctor, holding Lily's hand again.

"Yeah."

"Good."

It seemed the lift was quicker than they expected, because they were soon at floor five hundred. It was cold and empty, ice hanging from the walls, and Lily could see her breath in front of her. She walked closer to the Doctor, partly for the extra body heat and partly because she wanted to. She always found comfort with the Doctor, that would never change, and the Doctor would always respond by wrapping his arm around her waist pulling her closer, which is what he did.

"The walls are not made of gold. You should go back downstairs." Said the Doctor, mainly directing it at Rose. He didn't really want Lily with him, it could be dangerous, but right now, it was obvious she wasn't going to leave, and he wanted her with him anyway.

"Tough."

Rose walked ahead of the other two, directing their way through the floor. Lily couldn't help worrying that Rose was taking this situation a bit lightly. Whatever was here was potentially dangerous; she needed to be on her guard. They walked into a room to find a row of people sat with their hands on a desk much like the one downstairs, a man standing behind them, obviously waiting. Lily felt a shiver go down her back.

"I started without you. This is fascinating. Satellite five contains every piece of information within the fourth great and bountiful human empire. Birth certificates, shopping habits, bank statements, but you three, you don't exist. Not a trace. No birth, no job, not the slightest kiss. How can you walk through the world and not leave a single footprint?"

Lily watched Rose run over to Suki, who was sat on the end of the desk with a blank look on her face. She knew she was right to have a bad feeling about this place, knew that nothing good would come out of being promoted. "Suki. Suki! Hello? Can you hear me? Suki? What have you done to her?"

"I think she's dead." Said the Doctor.

"She's working."

"They've all got chips in their head, and the chips keep going, like puppets." Said Lily, disgusted by this mans actions.

"Oh! You're full of information. But it's only fair that we get some information back, because, apparently, you're no one. It's so rare not to know something. Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter, because we're of. Nice to meet you. Come on." Said the Doctor, eager to get out of there now. He needed to keep Lily safe. They backed up until they were held back by two of the 'workers', Rose being held by Suki.

"Tell me who you are!"

"Since that information's keeping us alone, I'm hardly going to say, am I?"

"Well, perhaps my Editor in chief can convince you otherwise."

"And who's that?"

"It may interest you to know that this is not the fourth great and bountiful human empire. In fact, it's not actually human at all. It's merely a place where humans happen to live." The man was cut off by a series of growls and snarling. "Yeah. Yeah, sorry. It's a place where humans are allowed to live by kind permission of my client." He pointed up to show what looked like a huge blob hanging from the ceiling with a huge set of teeth in its mouth. The Doctor struggled to move in front of Lily, as if that would protect her.

"What is that?" asked Rose.

"You mean that thing is in charge of satellite five?" said Lily, shocked at what was happening. Out of all the things she was expecting to find her, it was safe to say that this wasn't one of them.

"That thing, as you put it, is in charge of the human race. For almost a hundred years, mankind has been shaped and guided, his knowledge and ambition strictly controlled by it's broadcast news, edited by my superior, your master, and humanity's guiding light, the mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe. I call him Max." They laughed sarcastically at his 'humour' before being put roughly into a pair of manacles each. "Create a climate of fear and it's easy to keep the borders closed. It's just a matter of emphasis. The right word in the right broadcast repeated often enough can destabilize an economy, invent an enemy, change a vote."

"So all the people on Earth are like, slaves." Commented Rose, who was on the end, next to Lily who was in the middle, followed by the Doctor.

"Well, now, there's an interesting point. Is a slave a slave if he doesn't know he's enslaved?"

"Yes." Said the Doctor.

"Oh. I was hoping for a philosophical debate. Is that all I'm going to get? Yes?"

"Yes." Said Lily, really beginning to lose her temper.

"You're no fun."

"Let me out of these manacles. You'll find out how much fun I can be." She threatened.

"Oh, you're girlfriends tough!" mocked the Editor to the Doctor. "But, come on. Isn't it a great system? You've got to admire it, just a little bit." Lily wasn't listening at this point. He thought she was the Doctor's girlfriend? Did that mean they acted like a couple? What did he mean?

"You can't hide something on this scale. Somebody must have noticed." Noted Rose.

"From time to time, someone, yes, but the computer chip system allows me to see inside their brains. I can see the smallest doubt, and _crush_ it. Then they just carry on, living the life, strutting about downstairs and all over the surface of the Earth like they're so individual, when of course, they're not. They're just cattle. In that respect, the Jagrafess hasn't changed a thing." Lily and the Doctor managed to see Cathica behind the Editor's back, giving them a worried look, before walking on to do God only knows what in Lily's opinion. She could only hope she was smart enough to know what to do.

"What about you?" asked Rose. "You're not a Jagra…belly…"

"Jagrafess." Corrected Lily."

"Jagrafess. You're not a Jagrafess. You're human."

"Yeah, well, simply being human doesn't pay very well."

"But you couldn't have done this all on your own."

"No. I represent a consortium of banks. Money prefers a long-term investment. Also, the Jagrafess needed a little hand to install himself."

"No wonder." Said the Doctor. If he could distract them from Lily, he would have to keep them talking. That would give them time to get out. "A creature that size. What's his life span?"

"Three thousand years."

"That's one hell of a metabolism generating all that heat. That's why satellite five's so hot. You pump it out of the creature, channel it downstairs. Jagrafess stays cool, it stays alive. Satellite five is one great big life support system."

"But that's why you're so dangerous. Knowledge is power, but you remain unknown. Who are you?" He snapped his fingers, causing energy to surge through the manacles they were wearing. Lily gritted her teeth. This situation was horrifyingly like back at Van Statten's cell, and no doubt, this would affect her when they got out of here.

"Leave her alone!" begged the Doctor, seeing Lily's face scrunched in pain. "I'm the Doctor, she's Lily and that's Rose Tyler. We're nothing, we're just wandering."

"Tell me who you are!"

"I just said!"

"Yes, but who do you work for? Who sent you? Who knows about us? Who exactly…" He stopped, hearing the Jagrafess starting to growl.

"Time Lords."

"What?"

"Oh yes, the last of the Time Lords in their traveling machine. Oh, with their little human girl from long ago."

"You don't know what you talking about."

"Time travel."

"Someone's been telling you lies."

"Young master Adam Mitchell?" A screen appeared above the Editor's head to show Adam in the broadcasting chair much like Cathica. Lily cringed. She was never keen on the boy, she wouldn't be, but seeing this-him basically telling them everything- she was really starting to dislike the boy. It seemed she disliked a lot of people in this body.

"Oh, my God. His head!"

"What the hell's he done? What the hell's he gone and done? They're reading his mind. He's telling them everything!"

"And through him, I know everything about you. Every piece of information in his head is now mine. And you have infinite knowledge Doctor. You even more, Miss Lily. The human empire is tiny compared to what you've seen in you T.A.R.D.I.S. Tardis."

"Well, you'll never get your hands on it. I'll die first." Lily gave him a panicked look, before looking back to the Editor.

"Die all you like. I don't need you. I've got the key." They all watched as the Tardis key rose from Adam's pocket.

"You and your boyfriends!"

"Today, we are the headlines. We can rewrite history. We could prevent mankind from ever developing."

"And no one's going to stop you because you've bred a human race that doesn't bother to ask questions. Stupid little slaves, believing every lie. They'll just trot right into the slaughter house if they're told it's made of gold."

"What's happening?" asked the Editor as a screen popped up. "Someone's disengaged the safety. Who's that?"

"It's Cathica." Said Rose, as an image of her came up on the screen.

"And she's thinking! She's using what she knows!"

"Terminate her access."

"Everything I told her about satellite five. The pipes, the filters, she's reversing it. Look at that." Lily looked around the room to see the icicles starting to melt, no longer able to see her breath in front of her. "It's getting hot."

"I said, terminate. Burn out her mind."

Alarms blared out around the station, causing Rose and Lily to be released from their manacles.

"She's venting the heat up here. The Jagrafess needs to stay cool and now it's sitting on top of a volcano."

"Yes, I'm trying, sir, but I don't know how she did it. It's impossible. A member of staff with an idea." The Editor was saying.

"What do I do?" asked Rose, looking at the sonic screwdriver in her hand.

"Here." Said Lily, taking it from her hand and freeing the Doctor.

"Oi, mate! Want to bank on a certainty? Massive heat in a massive body, massive bang. See you in the headlines!" The Doctor grabbed Lily's hand pulling her out of the room, Rose following behind them. He needed to make sure she stayed with him, needed to get her out. They ran over to where Cathica was shut, closing her head, before running back to the lift, avoiding the chunks of ice that were falling from the ceiling.

"We're just going to go. I hate tidying up. Too many questions. You'll manage."

"Trust me. You should see his room. It's a pig sty. That's what you say right?" asked Lily.

"Yeah." Replied Rose, amused by the situation.

"You'll have to stay and explain it. No one's going to believe me." Moaned Cathica.

"Oh, they might start believing a lot of things now. The human race should accelerate. All back to normal."

"What about your friend?"

"He's not out friend." Said Lily, walking back into the Tardis without another word. Lily sat on a seat near the console, waiting for the Doctor, who stormed in the Tardis not a minute later, Adam and Rose running after him. The ride was silent as they flew the Tardis, no one daring to speak and risk the wrath of two Time Lords. Rose could tell they were extremely angry for what Adam had done, and quite honestly, she didn't blame them.

As soon as they landed, the Doctor opened the door, pushing Adam out in front of him.

"It's my house. I'm home! Oh, my God, I'm home! Blimey. I thought you were going to chuck me out of an airlock."

"We were going to." Said Lily. "But the Tardis doesn't have one big enough for you." She smirked.

"Is there something else you want to tell us?" asked the Doctor.

"No. What do you mean?"

"The achieve of satellite five." He said, picking up the answering machine. "One second of that message could've changed the world." He destroyed the machine with a simple flick of the screwdriver, creating a small boom. "That's it then. See you."

"How do you mean, see you?"

"As in goodbye." Said Lily.

"But what about me? You can't just go. I've got my head. I've got a chip type two. My head opens."

"What, like this?" Lily clicked her fingers, causing his head to open.

"Don't."

"Don't do what?" asked the Doctor as he clicked his fingers.

"Stop it!"

"All right, now you two. That's enough, stop it." Said Rose, causing Lily to pout and walk into the Tardis to wait for the other two. She knew Adam wasn't coming with them. She'd kick him out if he tried to come back into the Tardis. She absentmindedly rubbed her wrists as she sat down. She'd been bolted with electricity before, and having it done again just brought back unpleasant memories that she tried to push to the back of her mind. She was so caught up in her thoughts, she didn't notice the Doctor come in and sit next to her.

"You alright?" he asked.

"I will be." She replied, giving him a small smile.

A/N: ok, granted, not the best ending. There's not that much interaction in this episode I'd like between the Doctor and Lily, but hopefully the next episode will push them closer. Remember, they were best friends for a lot of years before the war, so they already know each other quite well, they just need to get reacquainted. But, there was an original scene at the beginning. Yay! We know how they met, and we're getting a lot of hints how they feel for each other, even though they are very oblivious. Awww…

The first bit was really to say that her and Rose will be very close in the future. I wanted them to really start to get along in this chapter so their relationship can grow along with her and the Doctor.

Please remember to favourite and review! Thanks lovelies!


	3. Chapter 3- Father's Day

Chapter Three- Father's Day

A/N: Okay! Chapter three! I'm planning to make the Doctor and Lily _really_ close in this episode. We'll see how much Lily cares about him and vice versa.

By the way, _italics _when the Doctor or Lily is speaking, means their speaking in their minds to each other.:)

The Doctor, Lily and Rose were all in the console room of the Tardis, the Doctor talking to Rose, and Lily fixing something underneath the Tardis. She couldn't believe how much was actually broken. She blamed the fact that whenever the Tardis did anything out of the ordinary- which was all the time- he hit it. She'd always told him that solved nothing, but it turns out while she had been away, he'd actually acquired a little hammer to hit it with. They'd been to a few planets and times since they'd gone to Platform Five. The Doctor wanted to her to have a good time, to make up for not being there all those years. He also felt bad that she had been hurt back with the Editor. He knew what she had gone through at Van Statten's; he'd seen it in her mind, and he didn't want her to ever go through that pain again. No. She _wouldn't_. Not while he was around.

After finally fixing what was broken- she didn't even know what was broken, only that she knew it was and she needed to fix it- she stood up and walked over to where the Doctor and Rose were talking.

"That's what mum always says. So I was thinking, could we, could we go and see my dad when he was alive?" asked Rose.

"Where's this come from, all of a sudden?" asked the Doctor.

"All right then, if we can't, if it goes against the laws of time or something, then never mind, just leave it."

"No, I can do anything." Lily scoffed. "I'm just more worried about you."

"I want to see him."

"Your wish is my command. But be careful what you wish for."

-8-

The three of them sat at the back of the room. They were at Rose's parents' wedding, and Lily could not help but feel that this was bad. She'd told the two of them when Rose had suggested seeing her father, that nothing good could come out of this. She'd just want to go and see him at other times; she'd too attached and wouldn't be able to let go. The Doctor had reassured her that he wouldn't let anything like that happen, he'd take care of Rose, but Lily felt that this was something he couldn't control. This was to do with Rose, and he couldn't control what Rose would do, he couldn't know what would happen. But she trusted the Doctor, and if the Doctor said it would be alright, she would do her best to believe him.

"I, Peter Alan Tyler, take you, Jacqueline Angela Suzette Prentice…" said the registrar.

"I, Peter Alan Tyler, take you, Jacqueline Suzanne…er…Suzette Anita…" repeated Rose's father, causing Lily to giggle at his mess up. She wasn't laughing in a mean way, it was more of the fact that she could tell the man was nervous, he didn't want to mess it up, and she just found it a little funny how much he seemed to be concentrating.

"Oh, just carry on. It's good enough for Lady Di." Said Jackie.

"I thought he'd be taller." Commented Rose, who was craning her neck to get a better view.

-8-

"I want to be that someone, so he doesn't die alone."

"November the 7th?" asked the Doctor.

"1987."

The Doctor got to work putting in the details in the console while Rose smiled to herself walking to the other side. "Doctor." Said Lily "I really don't think we should be doing this. Something bad is going to happen, and I don't care what you say, I can't support you in this decision. She won't be able to handle it."

"Who are you to say that I can't handle it?" asked Rose, who had come up behind her in the beginning of her sentence.

"A Time Lady. You know, a Lady of Time. I know what I'm talking about Rose. I won't stop you doing this, but I want you to know that I think this is a big mistake."

Lily watched Rose storm out of the Tardis as it had already landed half way into the conversation. She sighed. She hadn't wanted to offend the girl. She just wanted to warn her of the dangers of seeing her father die. Lily doubted very much whether she would be able to just stand by and watch him die, and that worried her. It could change everything. The Doctor took her hand, giving it a squeeze in comfort. He knew the risks of this, but he wouldn't let anything happen.

-8-

"It's so weird. The day my father died. I thought it'd be all sort of grim and stormy. It's just an ordinary day."

"The past is another country. 1987's just the Isle of Wight. Are you sure about this?" asked the Doctor. He was worried about what Lily had said. If she said this was a bad idea, it probably was, but they were here now, and it meant a lot to Rose.

"Yeah." They walked down a few streets until they finally came to Jordan Road. Rose led them to the edge of the road. "This is it. Jordan Road. He was late. He'd been to get a wedding present, a vase. Mum always said, that stupid case. He got out of his car, and crossed the road. Oh God, this is it." Pete got out of his van, and Lily took one of Rose's hands in hers, a sign that she was there, sorry for what she said and to show support. Rose gave her a brief smile before turning back to face the road. A beige car turned round the corner and ran straight into Pete, the driver shielding his face with his arm as he saw what he was doing, and drove away, leaving Pete in the middle of the road, the vase smashed next to him.

"Go to him, quick."

"It's too late now. By the time the ambulance got there, he was dead. He can't die on his own. Can I try again?" Lily inwardly sighed. She knew something like this was going to happen, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She would just have to make sure nothing happened.

-8-

"Right, that's the first us. It's a very bad idea, two sets of us being here at the same time. Lily's already explained that. Just be careful they don't see us. Wait till she runs off and he follows, then go to your dad." They watched as Pete pulled up to the curb again.

"Oh God, this is it." Said the first Rose.

"I can't do this." Said the second.

"You don't have to do this, but this is the very _last_ time we can be here." Stressed Lily. She'd only just finished the sentence, when Rose suddenly ran forward pushing her dad to the ground as he got out of the van, making him avoid being hit. "Rose, _stop!"_ Lily watched as the previous versions of themselves vanished, Rose and Pete having a conversation on the road.

She _knew _it. She knew something like this would happen. Rose couldn't handle seeing her father die. She had to save him. But she didn't know the consequences, she didn't know what could happen by saving an average person. She wasn't just angry with the girl, she was livid. She warned her, time and time again. She'd even warned the Doctor when she didn't listen, but no. Nobody listened to her. And now everyone would pay for it.

"Right." Said Pete, as they were led to his flat. "There we go. Sorry about the mess. If you want a cup of tea, the kitchens just down there, milk's in the fridge. Well, it would be, wouldn't it. Where else would you put the milk? Mind you, there's always the window sill outside. I always thought if someone invented a window sill with special compartments, you know, one for milk, one for yoghurt, make a lot of money out of that. Sell it to students and things. I should write that down. Anyway, never mind that, excuse me for a minute. Got to go and get changed." Lily and the Doctor just stood to the side, scowling. Well, Lily was scowling, the Doctor just had a blank look on this face. Lily was right. Well, she was always right. He should have seen this coming. She said that Rose wouldn't have been able to handle it, that she would do something stupid. And she had.

_I'm sorry. I should have listened to you._ He told her.

She gave him a small smile. _It's ok. We'll sort this._

"All the stuff mum kept." Said Rose, oblivious to both their attitude, and the conversation they were having. "His stuff. She kept it all packed away in boxes in the cupboard. She used to show me when she'd had a bit to drink. Here it is, on display. Where it should be. Third prize at the bowling. First two got to go to Didcot. Health drinks. Tonics, mum used to call them. He made his money selling this Vitex stuff. He had all sorts of jobs. He was so clever. Solar power. Mum said he was going to do this. Now he can. Okay, look, I'll tell him you're not my boyfriend."

_He thinks I'm her boyfriend?_ He asked Lily. She snickered.

"When we met," he said, getting serious. "I said travel with me in space. You said no. Then I said time machine."

"It wasn't some big plan. I saw it happening and I thought, I can stop it."

"I did it again. I picked another stupid ape. I should've known. It's not about showing you the universe. It never is. It's about the universe doing something for you. Lily even said, she warned you. She said this was a bad idea, warned you that you cannot go changing _anything_, even if you want to!"

"So it's okay when you go to other times, and you save people's lives, but not when it's me saving my dad?"

"I know what I'm doing, Lily knows what she's doing, probably more than me. Two sets of us being there made that a vulnerable point." Lily smiled at the Doctor's confidence in her. He always used to do that. She was never the most confident person when she was younger. She was the youngest in a family of five, and was constantly put down by her fathers. He always used to congratulate her whenever she did something right, always made her smile. Over time, her confidence grew, and it was all thanks to him. It seemed like times hadn't changed.

"But he's alive!" argued Rose.

"Our entire planet died! Our entire families! Do you think it never occurred to us to go back and save them?" fumed Lily.

"But it's not like I've changed history." Said Rose, a little scared of Lily at that moment. She'd never seen the girl angry, and she definitely didn't like it. "Not much. I mean he's never going to be a world leader. He's not going to start world war three or anything."

"Rose, there's a man alive in the world who wasn't alive before. That's the most important thing in creation. The whole world's different because he's alive." Said Lily, trying to calm down.

"What, would you rather him dead?"

"We're not saying that." Said the Doctor.

"No! I get it! For once, you're not the most important people in my life!"

"Let's see how you get on without us, then. Give me the key. The Tardis key. If we're so insignificant, give me it back."

"All right then, I will."

"You've got what you wanted, so that's goodbye then."

"You don't scare me! I know how sad you both are. You'll be back in a minute, or you'll hang around outside the Tardis waiting for me. And I'll make you wait a long time!"

The Doctor stormed out of the house, dragging Lily along by the hand so she had to jog to keep up with him. He wasn't about to let Lily go and say something she'd regret, although right now, he'd probably agree with her.

"We're not going to leave her are we? We can't leave her in 1987."

"We're not going to leave her." He replied. "But we need to get it through to her that she can't change history. I should've listened to you. We never should have come…"

"It's fine. Like you said, we can't change the past." The Doctor smiled. She always knew what to say to make smile, much like he did with her. It was her kindness that did it. She'd always been kind, ever since he'd first met her, even if she didn't seem it at first.

_The Doctor walked into the library, a book in his hand he had been looking forward to reading for months. He wanted somewhere quiet to read since his other friends wouldn't leave him alone. He'd walked into the library to hear a girl who wasn't that much younger than he was having an argument with the librarian._

"_Well there can't be _no _copies left! This place is huge!" she was saying. _

"_Well there isn't. Now will you please leave. You're disturbing the other reading."_

"_I think you're just being difficult." Argued the girl._

_The Doctor hadn't noticed, but he'd been walking slowly closer to where they were until he was right behind them. He didn't know why. He hadn't even seen the girl, but something drew him towards her. Now, he would say it was love. He loved her even then as he did now, but, being only eleven, he had no idea what that feeling was, so he was left with a confused feeling in his head. _

"_Well thanks for nothing." She finished saying, before turning to leave and walking straight into the Doctor, sending them straight to the floor. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going, and…"_

"_It's fine." Said the Doctor, now able to get a good look at the girl. She had long, straight blonde hair that went down her back, bright blue eyes, freckles that dotted across her nose and dimples that were showing as she was smiling. The Doctor could admit, even then, she was gorgeous. "I just…I couldn't help hearing your conversation, and…well…I have the book you want…you could borrow it?" He had no idea where that had come from, but soon decided it was well worth it as she gave him a big grin._

"_You mean it?"_

"_I mean it. I think she was just being difficult too." The girl laughed, causing the Doctor to laugh in return. Her laugh was contagious._

"_Thank you so much! I'll repay you back, I swear! I'll give it back to you as soon as possible!"_

"_Ok, but er…maybe we should get up now." It was true, they had just had that whole conversation laying on the floor, her laying on top of him so her hair creating a curtain around them. If they weren't ten and eleven years old, it would have looked very inappropriate. _

"_Yeah.." _

_Neither of them knew it then, but that was the beginning of so much more to come…_

Lily smiled seeing the memory in the Doctor's thoughts, a little shocked at the thoughts he had had of her. Was it possible he felt the same? That he loved her back? She didn't have long to think about that as they reached the Tardis, opening it to find the whole of the inside had gone, making it just like an ordinary police-box.

"It's started." The Doctor looked at her curiously, wondering what she meant. "When I was in the Academy for my later education, my training as some called it, we learnt what changing time did."

"What does it do exactly?" The Doctor wasn't an expert on this type of thing, although he still knew some of the effects. That was why he warned his companions so harshly not to do anything.

"You don't want to know." She replied.

"Rose!" exclaimed the Doctor, before running to the church, Lily running behind him.

-8-

"Rose! Get in the church!" shouted the Doctor as they made their way towards her. It seemed they were just in time, as a large creature with bat-like wings appeared in the sky. It hissed and swooped down at Rose as the Doctor pushed her away. "Get in the church!" Lily watched as two more of the creatures appeared, swooping down on members of the wedding. She learnt about these back at the Academy. Reapers, they called them. Creatures that came to fix rips in time. Deadly. She remembered that word to describe them. She was pulled out of thought by someone dragging her into the church, the door slamming behind her.

"They can't get in." the Doctor said. "Old windows and doors. Okay. The older something is, the stronger it is. What else? Go and check the other doors! Move!"

"What's happening? What are they? What are they?" asked Jackie, who looked absolutely frantic about the entire situation, not that Lily blamed her.

"There's been an accident in time. A wound in time. They're like bacteria, taking advantage."

"What do you mean, time? What're you jabbering on about, time?"

"Oh, I might've known you'd argue. Jackie, I'm sick of you complaining."

"How do you know my name?"

"I haven't got time for this." He said, looking at Lily, who was trying to stifle her laughs behind her hand beside him.

"I've never met you in my life!"

"No, and you never will unless we sort this out. Now, if you don't mind, I've waited a long time to say this. Jackie Tyler, do as I say. Go and check the doors!"

"Yes, sir."

"I should've done that ages ago."

"I've been wanting to meet Rose's mum for ages. Have to say, not what I expected." Commented Lily, as she calmed down her laughs.

"Trust me, that's a calm version." Said the Doctor, rubbing his cheek remembering where he slapped her.

"Excuse me." The two of them looked up to the see the couple that were supposed to be getting married in front of them. "My dad was out there."

"You can mourn him later. Right now we've got to concentrate on keeping ourselves alive."

"My dad had…"

"There's nothing I can do for him." Lily whacked him on the arm. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Will you listen to him?" she scolded, giving him a small smile to imply she was only pretending to be mad.

"He had this phone thing. I can't get it to work. I keep getting this voice."

Lily leaned forward to listen. "Watson, come here. I need you. Watson, come here. I need you."

"That's the very first phone call." Exclaimed the Doctor. "Alexander Graham Bell. Great man. A bit quiet."

"That's because you wouldn't shut up!" laughed Lily. "I don't think the telephone's going to be much use."

"But someone must have called the police."

"Trust me. The police can't help you. No one can. There is absolutely nothing in the universe that can harm those things. Time has been damaged and they've come to sterilize the wound. By consuming everything inside."

"Is this because…is this my fault?" asked Rose. Lily and the Doctor didn't answer.

-8-

"Do you know much about those things?" asked the Doctor as he worked on securing a door with his screwdriver.

"Not much. We didn't really do much about them at the Academy. They're the worst things that can happen in an event like this, I know that." Replied Lily, who was anxiously looking around.

"Excuse me, Miss?" Lily turned around to see the bride and groom behind them.

"Lily."

"You both seem to know what's going on."

"We seem to give that impression, yeah."

"I just wanted to ask…"

"Can you save us?" butted in the bride.

"Who are you two, then?" asked the Doctor, who had stood up to stand next to Lily.

"Stuart Hoskins."

"Sarah Clark."

"And one extra. Boy or girl?"

"I don't know. I don't want to know, really."

"How did all this get started?"

"Outside the Beatbox Club, two in the morning." Said Stuart.

"Street corner. I'd lost my purse, didn't have money for a taxi." Added Sarah.

"I took her home."

"Then what? Asked her for a date?"

"Wrote his number on the back of my hand."

"Never got rid of her since. My dad said…"

"I don't know what this is all about, and I know we're not important…"

"Who said you're not important?" asked the Doctor, making Lily smile at him. Trust the Doctor to make people smile even in this situation. It was so him. "I've traveled to all sorts of places, done things you couldn't even imagine, but you two. Street corner, two in the morning, getting a taxi home. We've never had a life like that." Lily missed the almost hopeful look he gave her when he said that. He'd be lying if he said he had never imagined having a life like that with her. "Yes. We'll try and save you."

-8-

The Doctor walked over to where Lily was sitting near the back of the church, seeing that she had baby Rose. He smiled as he saw her playing with the baby, making her laugh and grab hold of her thumb like babies do.

"You're good with her." Said the Doctor, sitting next to her.

"I should be. I've had enough practice." She laughed. It was true. Her brothers had left her to look after her nephews so often that she became a natural with little children. The Doctor often visited her when she was babysitting, and it made him smile at how easy it was for her to look after them. He always knew she'd make a good mother.

"Now Rose, you're not going to bring about the end of the world, are you? Are you?" teased Lily to the baby, making the Doctor laugh.

"Jackie gave her to me to look after." Said Lily, seeing Rose come up to them.  
"I'd better be careful. I think I just imprinted myself on Mickey like a mother chicken." Joked Rose, trying to diffuse the tension between the three of them.

"No!" said the Doctor as Rose reached out to touch the baby. "Don't touch the baby. You're both the same person. That's a paradox, and we don't want a paradox, not with those things outside. Anything new, any disturbance in time makes them stronger. The paradox might let them in."

"Can't do anything right, can I?"

"Since you ask, no. So, don't. Touch. The baby."

"I'm not stupid."

"You could have fooled me!" Lily gave him a look. She may have been annoyed at Rose, but she did look genuinely sorry. "All right, I'm sorry. We weren't really going to leave you on your own."

"I know."

"But between you and us. We haven't got a plan. No idea. No way out."

"Neither of you? You'll think of something."

"The entire world's been sterilized." Explained Lily. "This, and other places like it, are all that is left of the human race. We may be able to hold out for a while, but nothing can stop those creatures. Even our people weren't keen on them, and they were probably the only people who had any chance. They'll get through in the end. These walls aren't that old and there's nothing we can do to stop them. There used to be laws to stop this, our people would have stopped this….but they're gone, and now we're going the same way…"

"If I'd realized…"

"Just, tell us you're sorry."

"I am. I'm sorry." Since Lily was still holding the baby, the Doctor got up to give Rose a hug. "Have you got something hot?"

"It's the Tardis key!" exclaimed the Doctor. He crouched down, picking up the key with his jacket. "It's telling me it's still connected to the Tardis!" Lily watched him run up to the pulpit, getting everyone's attention. "The inside of my ship-" Lily coughed. They'd recently agreed that she could also be a pilot of the ship like they'd always planned, and so wasn't going anywhere, so of course she agreed. "-sorry, our ship, was thrown out of the wound but we can use this to bring it back. And once we've got our ship back, then we can mend everything. Now, I just need a bit of power. Has anybody got a battery?"

"This one big enough?" asked Stuart, who had picked up his mobile phone.

"Fantastic."

"Good old dad. There you go."

"Just need to do a bit of charging up and then we can bring everyone back." Lily watched as the Tardis began to show around the key, grinning as she saw the Doctor smiling in her direction. "Right, no one touches that key. Have you got that? Don't touch it. Anyone touches that key, it'll be, well, zap! Just leave it be and everything will be fine. We'll get out of here. All of us. Stuart, Sarah, you're going to get married, just like we said."

"When time gets sorted out…" began Rose, standing next to Lily, the Doctor opposite.

"Everybody here forgets what happened. And don't worry, the thing that you changed will stay changed." Said the Doctor.

"You mean I'll stay alive, though I'm meant to be dead." Said Pete, who had come up behind them. "That's why I haven't done anything with my life, why I didn't mean anything."

"It doesn't work like that." Argued Lily.

"Rubbish. I'm so useless I couldn't even die properly. Now it's my fault all of this has happened."

"This is my fault." Said Rose.

"No, love. I'm your dad. It's my job for it to be my fault."

"Her dad?" asked Jackie, shocked. "How are you her dad? How old were you, twelve? Oh, that's disgusting."

"Jacks, listen. This is Rose."

"Rose? How sick is that? You gave my daughter a second hand name? How many are there? Do you call them all Rose?"

"Oh, for God's sake, it's the same Rose!" Lily watched with horror as Pete handed Rose the baby, the Doctor taking it away too late, and a creature appearing inside the room.

"Everyone behind me!" shouted the Doctor. "I'm the oldest thing in here!"

"Doctor, no!" yelled Lily, trying to run forward only to be held back by Pete. She watched with wide eyes as the creature swooped down on the Doctor, flying over the Tardis causing it, and the creature, to vanish and the key drop to the ground. "NO!" She broke out of Pete's grip, running to the front and dropped onto her knees next to the key, picking it up. "It's cold.. The key's cold. He's dead. I'm on my own. I'm on my own again…" Tears spilled out of her eyes as that thought ran through her mind over and over again.

"Lily…" Lily looked up to see Rose in front of her. "I'm sorry…"

"No! Don't even say it! He's gone. He told you not to touch the baby, but no. You didn't listen. Again! Just…leave me alone, I can't look at you right now." She watched as Rose bowed her head, walking back to where her dad was. She couldn't help but be mad at Rose. She didn't want to be, but she had already thought she'd lost the Doctor once in the war, that had hurt her a lot. But now, seeing him die right in front of her, hurt more than she could say. She was truly on her own now. Her head felt empty, she couldn't hear anything, no thoughts of his that used to constantly flow through her head came. Just another sign that he was _gone_, and the worst thing was, she couldn't think of anything to get them out of this mess. She felt useless.

Taking deep breaths, knowing that she wasn't going to do much good crying at the front of the church, she wiped her eyes and walked back towards where Pete, Rose and Jackie were standing, to see Pete pick up the vase and run out of the church.

Before she knew it, she heard a crash come from outside, and a smash, the creatures around them disappearing. She watched Rose run after her dad, seeing the back of the Doctor's head in front of her. She didn't even know what ran through her head at that point. All she knew was that he was _back_, and she soon found herself running towards him, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him.

This was something the Doctor wasn't expecting. She was clearly relieved he was back, that much was obvious, but this was an action that shocked him. So, he did the only thing he could think of, kiss her back. Of course he was going to. He'd loved her for hundreds of years. He was going to kiss her back.

Unfortunately, as soon as he had, she pulled away, a disbelieving look on her face. "Oh, my God! I'm sorry. I mean…um...I'll meet you in the Tardis…" she stuttered, walking away. The Doctor sighed as he felt another hug. "And I'm glad you're back." She whispered, before walking away again.

The Doctor looked confused as he walked towards where Rose was beside her father. Did she regret kissing him? Why did she do it if she did? A million questions ran through his head as he walked. He'd talk to her about it later, he decided as he walked back towards the Tardis with Rose.

A/N: Awww! We got a flashback! I don't know about you but I find it so cute how they met. I told you they'd be getting closer. And they kissed! The two of them will probably be confused about that for a while. Lily wondering what made her do it, and the Doctor wondering if she regretted it. Next up… The empty child, and Captain Jack. A bit of jealous Doctor here I think… and who thinks that angry Lily is just a bit scary. But I can tell you, that is just the tip of the iceberg with her anger.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to favourite and review!


	4. Chapter 4- The Empty Child

Chapter Four- The Empty Child

A/N: alright, chapter four! Aaannnndd! Captain Jack! Woooo! I love this episode. Thanks to all of you that have favourited and subscribed. It really means a lot. And, on with the show!

"What's the emergency?" asked Rose, as they pursued a small spacecraft that was flying through the time vortex.

"It's mauve." Replied the Doctor, as if that explained everything.

"Mauve?"

"The universally recognized colour for danger." Explained Lily, who was at the other side of the console. Ever since she'd kissed the Doctor, she'd taken to avoid him as much as possible to avoid anything awkward. He'd tried talking to her a number of times, but she just pretended she couldn't hear him. She knew she was being childish, but she couldn't bear it if he said he didn't feel the same. In her mind, even though it was frightfully obvious, she thought that he could never feel the same.

"What happened to red?"

"That's just humans." Said the Doctor. "By everyone else's standards, red's camp. Oh, the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing. It's got a very basic flight computer. I've hacked in, slaved the Tardis. Where it goes, we go."

"And that's safe is it?"

"Totally." There was a bang from somewhere in the Tardis. "Okay, reasonably. Should have said reasonably there. No, no, no, no! It's jumping time tracks, getting away from us!"

"What exactly is that thing?"

"He has no idea." Said Lily. "But it's mauve and dangerous. And…" she looked at the monitor. "About thirty seconds from the centre of London."

-8-

The Tardis materialized in back alley between terraced housing.

"Do you know how long you can knock around space without happening to bump into Earth?" asked the Doctor.

"Five days?" joked Rose. "Or is that just when we're out of milk?"

"Of all the species in all the universe and it has to come out of a cow."

"It must have come down somewhere quite close." Speculated Lily. "Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Perhaps a month."

"A month. We were right behind it!" said Rose.

"It was constantly jumping time tracks. It was obvious we were going to be a little out. Would you like to try and pilot that thing? You'd probably be better than the Doctor anyway." She joked.

"Hey! I'm a great pilot." Defended the Doctor.

"You didn't even pass your exam. I did, it was easy. I honestly don't know how you failed."

"That Tardis hated me! It made me fail!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." At least they were talking again, thought the Doctor.

"How much is a little?" asked Rose, getting tired of their arguing. They always seemed to argue about, in her opinion, the stupidest things.

"A bit."

"Is that exactly a bit?"

"Ish."

"What's the plan then? Are you going to do a scan for alien tech or something?"

"Rose." Started the Doctor. "It hit the middle of London with a very loud bang. I'm going to ask." Lily snorted. "What?"

"Oh, nothing." She said, innocently. The Doctor just rolled his eyes, showing Rose his psychic paper." Doctor John Smith, Ministry of Asteroids and Miss Lillian Banks, Department of Astronomy."

"It's psychic paper. It tells you…"

"…Whatever you want it to tell me, I remember."

"Sorry."

"Not very Spock is it, just asking."

"Who's Spock?" asked Lily, confused.

"Door, music, people. What do you think?"

"I think you should do a scan for alien tech. Give me some Spock, for once. Would it kill you?"

"Seriously, who's Spock?"

"Are you sure about that t-shirt?" asked the Doctor, looking at Rose's shirt.

"Too early to say. I'm taking it out for a spin."

"Come on if you're coming. It won't take a minute." Lily followed the Doctor into the building, not noticing Rose walking the other way.

"For nobody else gave me the thrill." Sang the singer on stage. "When I have uphold silence still, it had to be you, wonderful you. It had to be you."

Lily watched as the Doctor walked up to the stage and stood in front of the microphone. "Excuse me. Excuse me. Could I have everybody's attention just for a mo? Be very quick. Hello! Might seem like a stupid question, but has anything fallen from the sky recently?" Lily joined in with the laughter that echoed around the room. Unlike him, she had actually checked what time they were in on the console before stepping outside, so she knew asking that would sound _incredibly_ stupid to the people here. That, and the confused look on the Doctor's face was hilarious. "Sorry, have I said something funny? It's just, there's this thing that I need to find. Would've fallen from the sky a couple of days ago." He drifted off as an air raid siren rang out and everyone left. "Would've landed quite near here with a very loud…"

"Quickly as you can, down to the shelter!" yelled a man.

"…bang." He finally finished, seeing a 'Hitler will send no warning poster' on the wall. "You could've told me when we were." He pouted.

"And miss the look on your face." Argued Lily. "I don't think so. Come on, let's find Rose."

"Rose? You know," said the Doctor, picking up a cat. "One day, just one day, maybe, I'm going to meet someone who gets the whole don't wander off thing. Nine hundred years of phone box travel, it's the only thing left to surprise me."

"Why the hell are you talking to a cat?" asked Lily, an eyebrow raised.

"Good company."

"What am I? A banana?"

"Banana's are good, good source of potassium." Lily rolled her eyes, unsure whether to take it as a compliment or not. "Actually, I've been meaning to talk to you about…" Thankfully to Lily, he was cut off by the Tardis phone ringing.

"How can you be ringing?" he asked, opening the small door that held the phone. "What's that about, ringing? What am I supposed to do with a ringing phone?"

"Answer it?" suggested Lily. The Doctor gave her a look. "Rhetorical?"

"Yeah."

"Oh."

"Don't answer it." Lily turned around to see a young girl standing at the other end of the alley. "It's not for you."

"How do you know?" Lily asked.

"'Cos I do. And I'm telling ya, don't answer it."

"Well, if you do know so much." Said the Doctor. "Tell us this. How can it be ringing. It's not even a real phone, it's not connected, it's not…"

"She's gone, Doctor." He shrugged and picked up the phone, holding it up so Lily could hear.

"Hello? Hello? This is the Doctor speaking. How may I help you?"

"Mummy? Mummy?"

"Who is this? Who's speaking?"

"Are you my mummy?"

"Who is this?"

"Mummy?"

"How did you ring here? This isn't a real phone. It's not wired up to anything."

"Mummy?"

"That was a little bit creepy." Said Lily, as it went to the dialing tone. "It sounded like a child." The Doctor knocked on the Tardis door.

"Rose? Rose, are you in there?"

"She's obviously not, anyway, I doubt she had anything to do with that, now come on. Let's explore or something." She said, dragging the Doctor out of the alley and onto a street.

"What are you doing?" he asked, seeing her peer over a wall.

"Learning the culture. Or something. Come on."

"The planes are coming. Can't you hear them? Into the shelter. None of your nonsense, now move it! Come on, hurry up, get in there." Said a woman in the garden. "Come on. Arthur! Arthur, will you hurry up? Didn't you hear the siren?"

A man who Lily could only assume was Arthur came out of the house. "Middle of dinner, every night. Blooming Germans. Don't you eat?"

"I can hear the planes!"

"Don't you eat?" Lily chuckled at this.

"Oh, keep your voice down will you? It's an air raid! Get in. Look, there's a war on.

"I know there's a war on. Don't push me!" The two of them watched the family shut the door to the shelter, and see Nancy, the girl from before, enter the garden and go into the house. Exchanging looks, the Doctor and Lily decided to go and see what she was doing. Something was going on, and she seemed to be the one to ask. They peered through the window before going through the back door and sitting down at the table, no one noticing them, which Lily found very surprising, as the Doctor wasn't really one for being quiet.

"All right, then. One slice each, and I want to see everyone chewing properly." Said Nancy, as she passed the plate around.

"Thank you, miss."

"Thanks, miss."

"Thank you, miss."

"Thanks, miss." Said the Doctor, trying to 'blend in', but obviously doing a very bad job about it. The children around the table panicked.

"It's alright." Calmed Nancy. "Everybody stay where you are!"

"It's good here, isn't it. I like it. Has anybody got the salt?" asked Lily.

"Back in your seats. They shouldn't be here either."

"So, you lot, what's the story?" asked the Doctor.

"What do you mean?" asked the eldest boy.

"You're homeless right? Living rough?"

"Why do you want to know that? Are you a copper?"

"Of course he's not a copper!" said Lily. "He couldn't arrest someone to save his life." The Doctor gave a small 'hey!'. "What's a copper got to do with all of you anyway? Arrest you for going hungry? I make this 1941. You shouldn't even be in London, you should have been evacuated to the country by now."

"I was evacuated." Said a boy. "Sent me to a farm."

"So why did you come back?" asked Lily, a confused look on her face. Surely the country would be better than here?

"There was a man there."

"Yeah, same with Ernie" said another. "Two homes ago."

"Shut up." Said Ernie. "It's better on the streets anyway. It's better food."

"Yeah, Nancy always gets the best food for us!"

"So that's what you do, is it, Nancy?" asked the Doctor.

"What is?"

"As soon as the sirens go, you find a big fat family meal still warm on the table with everyone down in the air raid shelter and bingo! Feeding frenzy for the homeless kids of London Town. Puddings for all, as long as the bombs don't get you."

"Something wrong with that?"

"Wrong with it? It's brilliant. I'm not sure if it's Marxism in action or a West End musical." Lily rolled her eyes. A classic example of when he didn't know when to stop talking.

"Why'd you two follow me? What do you want?"

"We want to know how a phone that isn't a phone gets a phone call."

"You seem to be the one to ask." Finished Lily.

"I did you a favour. I told you not to answer it, that's all I'm telling ya."

"Great, thanks. And I want to find a blonde in a Union Jack. I mean a specific one. Not this one here. I didn't just wake up this morning with a craving. Anybody seen a girl like that?" Lily whacked him on the arm. It seemed this Doctor's sense of humour was quite annoying. She watched Nancy take his plate away. "What have I done wrong?"

"You took two slices." Lily snickered. "No specific blondes, no flags. Anything else before you leave?"

"Yeah, actually." Said Lily, not wanting to make the situation worse with the Doctor talking. "Thanks for asking. There's something we've been looking for. Would have fallen from the sky about a month ago, but it's not a bomb. Not the usual kind you'd expect anyway. Wouldn't have exploded, I mean. It would probably have buried itself in the ground somewhere, and it would have looked something like this." She held up a detailed sketch of the thing they'd been following. She had always had a knack for drawing. She could draw a very detailed object in not a lot of time. A knock on the door shook her from her thoughts.

"Mummy? Are you in there, mummy?" She looked out of the window to see a little boy wearing a gas mask. "Mummy?"

"Who was the last one in?" asked Nancy.

"Him."

"No, he came round the back. Who came in the front?"

"Me."

"Did you close the door?"

"Erm…"

"Did you close the door?"

Lily watched as Nancy ran out of the room towards the door, locking and bolting it so the child wouldn't come in. "What's this, then?" asked the Doctor. "It's never easy being the only child left out in the cold, you know."

"I suppose you'd know."

"I do actually, yes." Lily gave him a small smile which he returned.

"It's not exactly a child." Nancy ran back into the dining room, Lily giving her a curious look as she did. This girl knew more than she was letting on. "Right, everybody out. Across the back garden and under the fence. Now! Go! Move! Come on, baby." She said to a girl who wouldn't move. "We've got to go, alright? It's just like a game. Just like chasing. Take your coat, go on. Go!" The Doctor was reminded of Lily when Nancy spoke to the girl. The way she would try and calm the children down, make it into something fun if they didn't want to do it. He walked back into the hallway, where Lily was crouched next to the door, a hand coming through the letter box.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

"Please let me in." said the child.

Lily jumped out of the way as she saw a vase rush past her head and break on the door, making the hand withdraw.

"You mustn't let him touch ya!

"What happens if he touches me?" asked Lily, confused.

"He'll make ya like him."

"And what's he like?"

"I've got to go."

"_Nancy._"

"He's empty." She looked at the phone as it began to ring. "It's him. He can make phones ring, he can! Just like with that police box you saw." Lily picked up the phone, holding it to her ear.

"Are you my mummy?" Lily's eyes widened when she heard the voice, not registering Nancy snatch the phone back and hang up.

"You stay if you want to." Said Nancy, as the child's voice came through on the radio. Lily watched the child put his hand though the letter box again, careful not to touch it. She wasn't that stupid to disregard a warning. There had to be meaning behind it.

"Mummy? Let me in please, mummy. Please let me in."

"Your mummy isn't here."

"Are you my mummy?"

"No mummies here." Said the Doctor. "Nobody here but us chickens." He turned to see Lily giving him an amused look, her eyebrow raised. "Well, this chicken."

"I'm scared."

"Why are those other children afraid of you?"

"Please let me in, mummy. I'm scared of the bombs."

"Okay. I'm opening the door now." He watched as the child withdrew his hand and unbolted the door. But when he opened it, he saw that the boy had vanished. Not a trace to be seen. They turned around, walking out of the backdoor following Nancy. They followed her to the side of the railway, as she was hiding the food she had stolen from the house.

"How'd you follow me here?"

"I'm good at following me. Got the nose for it." Replied the Doctor.

"People can't usually follow me if I don't wasn't them to."

"My nose has special powers."

"Yeah? That's why it's…"

"What?"

"Nothing."

"What?"

Nothing. Do your ears have special powers too?"

"What are you trying to say?"

"I think she's trying to say they're a little big." Said Lily, who was having trouble covering up her laughter.

"Hey!"

"Goodnight, Mister, Miss."

"Nancy!" called Lily, not about to let her get away again. "There's something chasing you and the other kids. Looks like a boy and it isn't a boy, and it started about a month ago, am I right? The thing we're looking for, the thing that fell from the sky, that's when it landed. And you know what I'm on about don't you?"

"There was a bomb. A bomb that wasn't a bomb. Fell the other end of Limehouse Green Station."

"Take us there." Said the Doctor. Lily rolled her eyes. He was never one to beat around the bush.

"There's soldiers guarding it. Barbed wire. You'll never get through."

"Try us."

"You sure you want to know what's going on in there?"

"We really want to know."

"Then there's someone you need to talk to first."

"And who's that then?"

"The Doctor." Lily gave the Doctor a puzzled look as they followed Nancy to Limehouse Green.

"Where'd you get them from?" asked Lily, as the Doctor pulled out a pair of hi-tech binoculars to 'scan' the area.

"I don't remember, things tend to just appear." He replied, shrugging.

"The bomb's under that tarpaulin. They put the fence up over night. See that building? The hospital."

"What about it?"

"That's where the doctor is. You should talk to him."

"For now, we're more interested in getting in there."

"Talk to the doctor first." Insisted Nancy.

"Why?"

"Because then maybe you won't want to get inside."

"Try telling that to Lily. Most stubborn person I've ever met." Lily gave a small 'hey' before nodding, admitting it was true. Even she could admit she was very stubborn. "Where are you going?"

"There was a lot of food in that house. I've got mouths to feed. Should be safe enough now." The Doctor nodded, turning back to scan the bombsite.

"Can I ask you something, Nancy?" asked Lily. "Who did you lose?"

"What?"

"The way you look after those kids. It's because you've lost somebody, and you're doing all of this to make up for it."

"My little brother, Jamie. One night I went out looking for food. Same night that thing fell. I told him not to follow me, I told him it was dangerous, but he just…he just didn't like being on his own." Lily gave the girl a hug as the Doctor turned around, listening to the conversation.

"What happened?" he asked.

"In the middle of an air raid? What do you think happened?"

"Amazing."

"What is?"

"1941. Right now, not very far from here, the German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe. Country after country, falling like dominoes. Nothing van stop it. Nothing. Until one tiny, damp little island says no. No. Not here. A mouse in front of a lion. You're amazing, the lot of you. Don't know what you do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me. Off you go then, do what you've got to do. Save the world." Nancy walked off, leaving Lily looking fondly at the Doctor. "What?"

"Nothing. It's just…you… you always know what to say, it's… it just makes me happy in a way." She replied, walking towards the hospital leaving the Doctor alone to think about what she said.

-8-

The Doctor and Lily entered the hospital and walked into a ward, full of patients. Looking around, Lily found that every patient was wearing a gas mask and was laying perfectly still. They walked into another ward, seeing patients who looked exactly the same, and jumped when they heard a voice behind them.

"You'll find them everywhere. In every bed, in every ward. Hundreds of them."

"Yes, we saw. Why are they still wearing gas masks?" asked the Doctor.

"They're not. Who are you?"

"We're er… are you the Doctor?"

"Doctor Constantine. And you are?"

"Nancy sent us." Said Lily, thinking that he would be more inclined to help them if she mentioned Nancy's name.

"Nancy? That means you must've been asking about the bomb."

"Yes, we have."

"What do you know about it?"

"Nothing. That's why we were asking. What do you know?"

"Only what it's done."

"These people." Said the Doctor. "They were all caught up in the blast?"

"None of them were." Constantine said, chuckling that then turned into a cough. He sat in a chair near a desk, facing them.

"You're very sick." Said Lily, a worried expression on her face. She could tell this man was a good person, and she didn't like it when people were hurting if they didn't deserve it.

"Dying, I should think. I just haven't been able to find the time. Are you a doctor, sir?" he said, addressing the Doctor.

"I have my moments."

"Have you examined any of them yet?"

"No."

"Don't touch the flesh?"

"Which one?"

"Any one." Lily watched as the Doctor examined a patient with his sonic screwdriver, looking around the room, feeling uneasy. "Conclusions?"

"Massive head trauma, mostly to the left side. Partial collapse of the chest cavity, mostly to the right. There's some scarring on the back of the hand and the gas mask seems to be fused to the flesh, but I can't see any burns."

"Examine another one."

"This isn't possible.

"What isn't?" asked Lily.

"No." agreed Constantine.

"They've all got the same injuries."

"Yes."

"Identical, all of them." Explained the Doctor to Lily. "Right down to the scar on the back of their hand."

"How did this happen?" asked Lily. "How did it start?"

"When that bomb dropped, there was just one victim."

"Dead?"

"At first. His injuries were truly dreadful. By the following morning, every doctor and nurse who had treated him, who had touched him, had those exact same injuries. By the morning after that, every patient in the same ward, the exact same injuries. Within a week, the entire hospital. Physical injuries as plague. Can you explain that? What would you say was the cause of death?" Lily, who had had an uneasy feeling as soon as she had entered the ward, felt like she knew what was coming. It seemed the Doctor did not however, as he tried to guess.

"The head trauma?"

"No."

"Asphyxiation?"

"No."

"The collapse of the chest cavity…"

"No."

"All right. What was the cause of death?"

"Doctor." Said Lily. "There wasn't one."

"Yes." Agreed Constantine. "They're not dead." He hit a bin with his walking stick, causing all of the patients in the ward to sit up in their beds. The Doctor gripped Lily's hand, making sure she was next to him. "It's all right, they're harmless. They just sort of, sit there. No heartbeat, no life signs of any kind. They just don't die."

"And they've just been left here? Nobody's doing anything?" questioned the Doctor, as the patients proceeded to lie down again, making them relax, though only a little.

"I try and make them comfortable. What else is there?" Lily smiled.

"Just you? You're the only one here?"

"Before this war began, I was a father and a grandfather. Now I am neither. But I'm still a doctor."

"Yeah, I know the feeling." Lily gave him a side hug. It was true that the Doctor had married and had a child when they were younger. But everyone could see that it was a loveless marriage. Many marriages on Gallifrey were set up solely to produce children, and that was the type of marriage the Doctor was in. Time Lords had what many people call 'soul mates' but those were very rare. You were drawn to the other person, it was something neither could fight, but you would only know for sure when both people sought for a relationship with each other. Although Lily knew how hard it was for the Doctor to lose his family, even if he didn't necessarily love them.

"I suspect the plan is to blow up the hospital and blame it on a German bomb."

"Probably too late."

"No. There are isolated cases. Isolated cases breaking out all over London. Stay back, stay back!" Constantine said, as Lily moved forward, only then noticing the scar that was on the back of his hand. "Listen to me. Top floor. Room 802. That's where they took the first victim, the one from the crash site. And you must find Nancy again."

"Nancy?"

"It was her brother. She knows more than she's saying. She won't tell me, but she might…mu…mummy… Are you…my mummy?"

Lily watched in horror as the man's face morphed into a gas mask, him then seeming asleep like the other patients. She buried her head in the Doctor's shoulder as they walked out of the room, hearing a faint sound in the corridor. They walked down and saw Rose standing next to a man that Lily had never seen before. Even she could admit, he was good looking, but he looked like he knew it, putting her off. Well, it would have put her off if she thought of him that way in the first place, and of course she didn't. She loved the Doctor.

"Good evening." He said. "Hope we're not interrupting. Jack Harkness. I've been hearing all about you on the way over. Hello." He took Lily's hand, winking at her. She gave him an awkward smile before pulling it back.

"He knows. I hate to tell him about us being time agents." Said Rose.

"And it's a real pleasure to meet you, Mister Spock, Miss Lily."

"Mr Spock?" asked the Doctor as Jack walked into the ward.

"What was I supposed to say? You don't have a name. Lily does. Don't you ever get tired of Doctor? Doctor who?"

"Nine centuries in, I'm coping. Besides, Lily isn't her name either."

"Really."

"Yeah." Said Lily. "It's just the name I go by. We're not allowed to tell anyone our real names, so…"

"Oh." That wasn't necessarily true. They were only allowed to tell their name to the people who mean the most of them. The Doctor and her knew each others names. They had told each other when they were much younger, always joking they were going to end up together anyway.

"Anyway, where have you been! We're in the middle of a London Blitz. It's not a good time for going for a stroll."

"Who's strolling? I went by barrage balloon. Only way to see any air raid."

"What?"

"Listen, what's a Chula warship?"

"Chula?"

Rose shrugged and followed Jack into the ward, who was examining patients using a wrist tricorder.

"This just isn't possible. How did this happen?"

"What kind of Chula ship landed here?" asked the Doctor, partially glaring at the man. He hadn't liked the way he tried to flirt with Lily, only _he_ could do that. He had no idea where that thought came from, but he liked the idea of it. Whenever he thought of Lily with another, it made his blood boil. And she _had_ kissed him. That had to mean something. But he wasn't about to let this man take her away from him.

"What?"

"He said it was a warship." Said Rose. "He stole it, parked it somewhere out there, somewhere a bomb's going to fall on it unless we make him an offer."

"What kind of warship?"

"Does it matter? It's got nothing to do with this."

"This started at the bomb site. It's got everything to do with it. What kind of warship?"

"An ambulance! Look." Lily watched as he created a hologram of the object they were chasing on his wrist device. "That's what you chased through the time vortex. It's space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you. Saw your time travel vehicle, love the retro look, by the way, nice panels. Threw you the bait…"

"Bait?" asked Rose.

"I wanted to sell it to you and then destroy it before you found out it was junk."

"You said it was a warship!"

"They have ambulances in wars." He said, with a 'duh' expression. "It was a con. I was conning you! That's what I am, I'm a con man! I thought you were time agents. You're not are you?"

"Just a few more freelancers."

"Oh, I should have known. The way you guys are blending in with the local colour. I mean, flag girl was bad enough, but U-boat captain? Anyway, whatever's happening here has got nothing to do with that ship."

"What is happening here, Doctor? Lily, what's with all the patients?"

"Human DNA is being rewritten, by an idiot." Said Lily, smirking at the end looking at Jack, who glared at her playfully, knowing she didn't fully mean it. Lily tended to get a glint in her eye when she was joking that anyone could see.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know." Said the Doctor. "Some kind of virus converting human beings into these things. But why? What's the point?" Lily looked around, as if that would give her a hint as to what was going on, only to jump back when all of the patients suddenly sat up.

"Mummy. Mummy. Mummy? Mummy?"

"What's happening?" asked Rose, backing up against the wall with the others as the patients all stood up, advancing on them.

"I don't know."

"Don't let them touch you!" shouted Lily, who had been pushed behind the Doctor as a bid to try and protect her.

"What happens if they touch you?"

"You're looking at it." The four of them continued backing up against the wall as the patients came closer.

"Mummy. Mummy. Mummy? Mummy?"

A/N: ooooooo! A cliff hanger. I like this chapter, I feel there's a bit more humour in it. And they were so close to talking about the kiss! Gallifrian soul-mates will be explained later on, I think. Not sure when yet, but hopefully soon! And Jack's finally here! A bit of the jealous Doctor coming through, don't you think? At the end of the next chapter, I think he'll make a return…

Thanks to all of you who have favourited! Please remember to review and favourite! It means a lot. :)


	5. Chapter 5- The Doctor Dances

Chapter Five- The Doctor Dances

A/N: Darn that cliff hanger…well, here it is! The next chapter. Hope you enjoy! I think the ending will be nice. A little bit more of bonding time…

Lily was totally backed up against the wall as the patients continued to advance. She couldn't believe it could end like this. Honestly, she had no idea. She watched as the Doctor stepped forward, now within touching distant from the patients. Her heart almost stopped as she watched him approach.

"Go to your room." He said, forcefully. Lily watched as the patients stopped moving forward, although a little amused at what the Doctor had said. "Go to your room. I mean it. I'm very, very angry with you. I am very, very cross. Go to your room!" The patients hung their heads in what Lily could only assume was shame and shuffled away back to their beds where they laid down. "I'm really glad that worked."

"Me too." Laughed Lily, relieved. "Those would have been terrible last words!" She said, giving him a hug that, admittedly, lasted longer than it should have. She didn't miss the smirk Rose gave them in the background.

"Why are they all wearing gas masks?" asked Rose.

"They're not." Said Jack, surprising Lily at how he knew that. "Those masks are flesh and bone."

"How was this con supposed to work?" asked the Doctor, glaring. He definitely didn't like this man. When, at first, he had flirted with Lily which made him curl his hands into fists, now he's hearing he was a con man.

"Simple enough really. Find some harmless piece of space junk, let the nearest time agent track it back to Earth, convince him it's valuable, name a price. When he's put fifty percent up front, oops! A German bomb falls on it, destroys it forever. He never gets to see what he's paid for, never knows he's been had. I buy him a drink with his own money, and we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con." Jack said with a smirk.

"It's actually quite clever." Commented Lily.

"Yeah, perfect…" mumbled the Doctor. To say he was jealous right then was a bit of an understatement. There she was, complimenting this con-man, when all he wanted was for her to compliment him. He knew this sounded very self-centred, but he couldn't help it. He had no claim on her, he wasn't in a relationship with her, however much he wanted to be, and she could say what she liked to other people. But it didn't mean he had to like it. He wanted only the best for her, and he could give her the best. She _deserved_ only the best.

"The London blitz is perfect for self-cleaners." Said Jack, who was now mainly talking to Lily, seeing the Doctor deep in thought, although he was now shook out of it, and watching the man inch closer to Lily, much to his displeasure. "Pompeii's nice if you want to make a vacation of it though, but you've got to set your alarm for volcano day. We should go there one day." He said, winking at Lily, who grinned at him in return. It wasn't that she was encouraging him, but she really was quite clueless when it came to flirting with anyone else other than who she loved, and since she hadn't loved anyone before the Doctor, she was rather inexperienced. She tended just to smile and nod, which is what she was doing right now. "I'm sensing a hint of disapproval." The Doctor had been standing there glaring at him while he had been 'flirting', gritting his teeth when he saw Lily do nothing about it. Jack, who had been finding the man's reactions funny, just carried on pretending he hadn't seen him. It was obvious this man had feelings for the girl, and really, he couldn't blame him. He'd only known her for about ten minutes and already he could see she was one of the kindest and spirited people he'd met, not to mention beautiful. He could tell, although he hadn't flirted what he called 'a lot', she wasn't interested, in fact, he wasn't sure if she even knew she was being flirted with. She was definitely beginning to be more of a friend, or sister, than someone to flirt with. Someone who didn't want to flirt with him, which he had to admit was quite a nice change.

"Take a look around the room. This is what your 'harmless' piece of space junk did!" fumed the Doctor.

"It was a burnt out medical transporter. It was empty!"

"Lily, Rose."

"Are we getting out of here?" asked Rose.

"We're going upstairs." Replied Lily, knowing where the Doctor's train of thought had gone. Not only did it seem safer away from all of the patients, it would also hopefully give them some answers towards how this whole thing started, and how to end it.

"I even programmed the flight computer so it wouldn't land on anything living. I harmed no-one! I don't know what's happening here, but believe me, I had nothing to do with it."

"I'll tell you what's happening." Said the Doctor, who had taken Lily's hand guiding her out of the room. He didn't want her spending more time with that man than was necessary. "You forgot to set your alarm clock. It's volcano day." A siren sounded through the room from outside.

"What's that?" asked Rose.

"The all clear." Replied Jack.

"I wish." Scoffed the Doctor, walking out of the room.

-8-

"We're going to the child's room, aren't we?" Lily asked the Doctor, anxious. She'd seen the Doctor's obvious dislike and distrust of Jack, although Lily couldn't be sure why. It was very obvious that the 'space-junk' was responsible for whatever was going on here, but she knew that Jack honestly thought it was empty.

"Yeah." Came his reply. "Have you got a blaster?" he asked as they saw Rose and Jack run after them, coming to a stop in front of a big, metal door, that made Lily on edge.

"Sure!" Lily chuckled. It was clear that Jack was trying to get back in the Doctor's good books, and she knew it would take a long time. He'd been quite forgiving on Rose for what had happened with her father. There'd have to be something terribly wrong for him not to. She'd done a lot for the Doctor, and for Lily to, although, admittedly, it had taken a bit more for Lily to forgive her completely. She had, after all, seen the Doctor, the last Time _Lord_, her best friend, and the man she loved, killed in front of her. In Lily's opinion, she had a right to be mad. But she couldn't stay mad forever, and ended up forgiving her after about two days of her constantly apologizing.

"The night you're space junk landed, someone was hurt. This was where they were taken."

"What happened?" asked Rose.

"Let's find out. Get it open."

"What's wrong with your sonic screwdriver?"

"Nothing." Came the reply as Jack used his blaster to create a hole in the door where the lock and handle should be. "Sonic blaster, fifty first century. Weapon Factories of Villengard?"

"You've been to the factories?"

"Once." Laughed Lily, remembering when they went.

"Well, they're gone now, destroyed. The main reactor went critical. Vaporized the lot."

"Like I said, once."

"Yeah." Agreed the Doctor. "There's a banana grove there, now. I like bananas. Bananas are good." He said, winking at Lily, remembering the conversation they'd had earlier, making her blush. He smiled at that, knowing he had the ability to do that.

"You and your bananas." she laughed, following him in the room.

"What do you think?" asked the Doctor, watching her go wide eyed at the room. Filing cabinets in the corner had been knocked over, the papers everywhere, the electronic equipment had all been broken, and the observation window had been smashed to pieces, glass scattered across the room.

"Something got out of here." Said Jack.

"Yeah. And?"

"Something powerful. Angry."

"Powerful and angry." Agreed Lily, taking in the drawings in the room that were on the walls and littered on the floor.

"A child? I suppose this explains mummy."

"How could a child do this?" asked Rose. Lily walked over to a tape machine, switching it on, hearing Doctor Constantine's voice echo around the room.

"_Do you know where you are?"_

"_Are you my mummy?"_

"_Are you aware of what's around you? Can you see?"_

"_Are you my mummy?"_

"_What do you want? Do you know…"_

"_I want my mummy! Are you my mummy? I want my mummy! Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy? Mummy? Mummy?"_

"Doctor, I've heard this voice before." Said Rose.

"Us too."

"_Mummy?"_

"Always, are you my mummy? Like he doesn't know."

"_Mummy?"_

"Why doesn't he know?"

"_Are you there, mummy? Mummy? Mummy? Please, mummy? Mummy?"_

"Doctor?"

"Can't you sense it?"

"Sense what?" asked Jack.

"It's like it's coming out of the walls." Agreed Lily. "Can't you feel it?" she was beginning to get scared now. Whatever was going on, it was bigger than she thought. They were in danger, the _Doctor_ was in danger. They had to figure out what was going on and get out of this room. She couldn't place why, but she felt like staying in this room was a bad idea.

"_Mummy?"_

"Funny little Human brains. How do you get around in those things?" asked the Doctor. Lily hit him on the arm while she laughed. She silently agreed, not that she'd say it out loud.

_I knew I was right. _Gloated the Doctor in her mind.

_No need to get big headed. _She teased back.

"When he's stressed he like to insult species." Rose told Jack.

"Rose, I'm thinking."

_Yeah, thinking_. Joked Lily.

"He cuts himself shaving, he does half an hour on life forms he's cleverer than." Continued Rose.

"There are these children living rough around bomb sites. They come out during air raids looking for food."

"_Mummy, please."_

"Suppose they were there when this thing, whatever it was, landed?"

"It was a med ship, it was harmless!" insisted Jack.

"Yes, you keep saying harmless. Suppose one of them was affected, altered?"

"Altered, how?"

"I'm here!" continued the child's voice.

"It's afraid. Terribly afraid and powerful. It doesn't know it yet, but it will do. It's got the power of a god, and I just sent it to it's room." Lily looked around uneasily as a noise filled the room, and she turned, her eyes going wide again as she saw the tape had run out.

"Doctor." Said Lily, warningly, nodding her head to the tape.

"I'm here. Can't you see me?"

"What's that noise?" shouted Rose.

"End of the tape." Said Lily. "It ran out about thirty seconds ago."

"I sent it to it's room. _This_ is it's room." They all turned around, seeing the child standing in the doorway. The Doctor gently pushed Lily so she was just behind him. What would have happened if the child had come into the room. Lily had been closest to the door…no! He would not think about that. He would get her out.

"Are you my mummy? Mummy?"

"Doctor?"

"Okay." Said Jack. "On my signal, make for the door."

"Mummy?"

"Now!" Lily watched as Jack pulled out what he expected to be his blaster, instead pulling out a banana, and she couldn't help the severity of the situation, she burst out laughing.

"Mummy?"

The Doctor, who had rolled his eyes at Jack's actions, pulled Jack's blaster from his belt, blasting a huge hole in the wall where they all climbed through quickly, the Doctor last so he could make sure Lily got through safely.

"Go now! Don't drop the banana!"

"Why not?"

"Good source of potassium." Said Lily, remembering what he had said about them earlier. "Better than apples." She joked. Every version of the Doctor she'd met had hated apples. He always joked they were 'evil', although she had no problem with them herself.

"Very true." He replied, giving her a grin.

"Give me that!" shouted Jack, breaking the two of them out of their 'moment' as Jack would call it.

"Mummy. I want my mummy!" Jack aimed his blaster back at the wall, repairing it, as though he thought that was going to stop the child coming through.

"Digital rewind." Complimented Lily.

"Nice switch." Said Jack.

"It's from the Groves of Villengard. I thought it was appropriate."

"There's really a banana grove in the heart of Villengard and you did that?"

"Bananas are good." Lily rolled her eyes, as the wall in front of them began to crack.

"Doctor!" shouted Rose.

"Come on." He yelled, grabbing Lily's hand again in a desperate attempt to keep her safe. He honestly wasn't sure where this _need_ to keep her safe at all times came from. It seemed like it was so much more than mere love, if his love for her could be called mere. They ran forward, having to back up when they saw patients advancing on them from both sides. "It's keeping us here till it can get at us!"

"It's controlling them?" asked Jack.

"It is them." Explained Lily. "It's every living thing in this hospital."

"Okay. This can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon, and as a triple enfolded sonic disrupter. Doc, what you got?" Lily laughed at the nickname.

"I've got a sonic, er…Oh! Never mind!"

"What?"

"It's sonic okay? Let's leave it at that."

"Disrupter? Cannon? What?"

"It's sonic! Totally sonic! I am soniced up!"

"A sonic what?!"

"Screwdriver!" Lily started laughing at Jack's shocked face, but quickly gasped when the wall in front of them was totally broken through, the child stepping through the hole.

"Going down!" was the only thing Lily heard before falling through the floor, landing so unsteadily on her feet that she fell over. The Doctor rushed over to her, helping her to her feet. "Lily, are you okay?" asked Rose, who was feeling guilty that she may have hurt the Time Lady, even if she was saving them from something much worse.

"Could've done with a warning." She replied, smiling at the Doctor for his help.

"Oh, the gratitude!" joked Rose, making Lily laugh.

"Who has a sonic screwdriver?" asked Jack, who was smiling at Lily. He loved seeing her happy. It was strange, he just felt like he had a connection with her. Not a romantic one, of course not, but a connection all the same, and it made him happy when she was.

"I do." Replied the Doctor, who had led Lily over to a chair so she could sit down.

"Lights." Said Rose.

"Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, ooo, this could be more sonic?" Asked Jack.

"Actually, Doctor, he's got a point." Said Lily.

"Not you too, Lily." Said the Doctor, acting fakely disappointed. "What, you've never been bored?"

"There's got to be a light switch…"

"Never had a long night? Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?"

"Since when do you put up cabinets?" asked Lily, acting innocent. She jumped when all the patients suddenly sat up in their beds.

"Mummy. Mummy."

"Door." Said Jack, firing his blaster, but cursing when it doesn't work. "Damn it! It's the special features. They really drain the battery."

"The battery?" asked Rose, as they ran into a storeroom. "That's so lame!"

"I was going to send for another one, but somebody's got to blow up the factory."

"Oh, I know. First day I met him, he blew my job up. That's practically how he communicates. Lily tends to go for the typical 'hello' thankfully."

"Okay, that door should hold it for a bit."

"The door? The wall didn't stop it!"

"Well, it's got to find us first, right?" said Lily, trying to keep optimistic, though, in her opinion, failing abysmally. "Come on, we're not done yet. Assets, assets!" The Doctor smiled at her attitude. Trust her to try and make everyone else feel better in a situation like this. It was so Lily.

"Well, I've got a banana, and in a pinch you could put up some shelves."

"Window." Said the Doctor.

"Barred. Sheer drop outside. Seven stories." Lily shivered. Heights were not her thing.

"And no other exits." Moaned Rose.

"Well, the assets conversation went in a flash, didn't it?" joked Jack, looking at Lily, who play-glared at him.

"So, where'd you pick this one up, then?"

"Doctor."

"She was hanging from a barrage balloon, I had an invisible spaceship. I never stood a chance. Although…" continued Jack, inching over to Lily.

"Okay!" shouted the Doctor, stopping Jack in this actions. The day he would let anyone else flirt with her…well, that day wouldn't come… "One, we've got to get out of here. Two, we can't get out of here. Have I missed anything."

"Yeah." Said Rose. "Jack just disappeared. Okay! So, he's vanished into thin air. Why is it always the great looking ones who do that?"

"They don't. Some just appear out of nowhere in a police box." Said Lily, not really knowing why she said that. Rose smirked, whereas the Doctor stood there, his mouth agape for a while. She thought he was good looking? Him? That was something that had shocked him. It was clear from the wide eyed expression, she was shocked she'd said that as well, but honestly, it made a smile come to his face.

Rose just stood there smirking. It was so clear to her that the two of them had feelings for each other. It was so obvious she was sure a Dalek could see it. The two of them were constantly holding hands, he was always moving to protect her, every action he did was to try and make her happy. He'd taken her to many planets after they'd saved her from Van Statten's, all of them places that the Doctor had told her they'd planned to go to when they were on Gallifrey. He'd watched her run around across fields, watched her star gaze at night, and on all of those times he'd watched her, Rose could see the love that shone in his eyes for the Time Lady. She'd spoken to Lily about their time on Gallifrey. Of course, Lily hadn't told her a lot of things and Rose hadn't expected her to. Their planet was something private, a time they could share with each other, but Lily had admitted to loving the Doctor even then, how she loved him now, and Rose had vowed silently that she would help them get together. It would be a crime for them not to be together.

"I'm making an effort not to be insulted, Rose." Said the Doctor, recovering.

"I mean, men." Rose laughed, winding him up.

"Okay, thanks, that really helped."

"Rose? Lily? Doctor?" came Jack's voice through the radio in the room. "Can you hear me? I'm back on my ship. Used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn't take you. It's security-keyed to my molecular structure. I'm working on it. Hang in there."

"How're you speaking to us?"

"Om-com. I can call anything with a speaker grill."

"Now there's a coincidence."

"What is?"

"The child can om-com, too."

"He can?" asked Rose.

"Anything with a speaker grill. Even the Tardis phone."

"What, you mean the child can phone us?"

"And I can hear you!" came the child's voice. "Coming to find you! Coming to fiiinnd you!"

"Doctor, can you hear that?" asked Jack.

"Loud and clear."

"I'll try to block out the signal. Least I can do. Remember this one, Rose?" Lily listened as Moonlight Serenade came across on the radio, giving Rose a curious look.

"Our song."

"Oh."

"What are you doing Doctor?" asked Rose, as he was stood on a table, doing something to the window.

"Trying to set up a resonation pattern in the concrete, loosen the bars."

"You don't think he's coming back, do you?"

"Wouldn't bet my life."

"Why don't you trust him? Lily seems to."

"Why do you?"

"He saved my life. Bloke wise, that's up there with flossing. I trust him because he's like you, except the dating and the dancing, I mean, you saved Lily's life. What?"

"You just assume I'm…"

"What?"

"You just assume I don't dance."

"What, are you telling me you do dance?"

"Nine hundred years old, me. I've been around a bit. I think you can assume at some point I've danced."

"You?"

"Problem?"

"Doesn't the universe implode or something if you dance?" Lily had to laugh at that. Last time she'd checked, he was an awful dancer.

"Well, I've got the moves but I wouldn't want to boast."

Rose turned the volume of the music up before walking over to Lily and pulling her up.

"Rose, what are you doing?" she asked, not liking where this was going.

"He's got the moves. He can show you the moves." This was the perfect opportunity to get them closer together.

"Rose, I'm trying to resonate concrete." Said the Doctor. He'd love to dance with Lily. Just the thought of being that close to her sent shivers up his spine, but he knew he would just make a fool of himself. He thought himself a decent dancer, but in front of her, he knew he would just melt under her gaze, he wouldn't be able to focus at all.

"Jack'll be back. He'll get us out. Come on! Lily really wants to see you dance, right?"

"Do I?" asked Lily, confused. She had no idea why the girl was so insistent about that, she could only assume she was up to something, and she didn't want to walk straight into it. Lily looked down at where Rose was still holding her hand from dragging her up, suddenly realizing something.

"Barrage balloon?" she asked.

"What?" asked Rose, turning to her.

"You were hanging from a barrage balloon?"

"Oh, yeah. About two minutes after you two left me, thousands of feet about London, middle of a German air raid, Union Jack all over my chest."

"Hanging from a rope thousands of feet above London, and you've not got one bruise, not one scratch."

"Yeah, I know, Captain Jack fixed me up."

"Oh, we're calling him Captain Jack now are we?" butted in the Doctor, seeing where Lily was going. She always was one to find things that he had completely missed, something important that they'd need.

"Well, he's name's Jack, and he's a captain."

"He's not really a captain, Rose."

"Do you know what I think?" she replied, placing Lily's hand in the Doctor's making them begin to dance, well, sway on the spot. "I think you're experiencing Captain envy." She smiled as they relaxed with each other, seeing the Doctor smile.

"If ever he was a captain, he's been defrocked."

"Yeah?"

"Actually, I quit." Said Jack. "Nobody takes my frock. Most people notice when they've been teleported. You guys are so sweet. Sorry about the delay. I had to take the nav-com offline to override the teleport security."

"You can spend ten minutes overriding your own protocols?" scoffed the Doctor. "Maybe you should remember whose ship it is."

"Oh, I do. She was gorgeous. Like I told her, be back in five minutes."

"This is a Chula ship." Stated Lily, still being held, looking around.

"Yeah, just like that medical transporter. Only this one _is_ dangerous." Lily watched as the Doctor snapped his fingers, a golden glow surrounding his hands.

"They're what fixed my hands up!" exclaimed Rose. "Jack called them er…"

"Nanobots?"

"Nanogenes?" asked Lily.

"Nanogenes, yeah."

"Sub-atomic robots." Said the Doctor. "There's millions of them, see? Burned my hand on the console when we landed. All better now. They activate when the bulk head's sealed. Check you out for damage, fix any physical flaws. Take us to the crash site. I need to see your space junk."

"As soon as I get the nav-com back online. Make yourself comfortable. Carry on with whatever you were doing." Said Jack, smirking at Lily.

-8-

"There it is." Said Jack. "Hey, they've got Algy on duty. It must be important."

"We've got to get past him."

"Are the words distract the guard heading in my general direction?" asked Rose.

"I don't think that would be a good idea." Said Lily.

"Don't worry I can handle it."

"No, Lily's right. I've got to know Algy quite well since I've been in town. Trust me, you're not his type. I'll distract him. Don't wait up."

"Relax." Said the Doctor. "He's a fifty first century guy. He's a bit more flexible when it comes to dancing."

"How flexible?"

"Well, by his time, you lot have spread out across half the galaxy."

"Meaning?"

"So many species, so little time."

"What, that's what we do when we get out there? That's our mission? We seek new life, and, and…"

"Dance." Smirked the Doctor. Lily, however, was busy watching what Jack was doing, frowning when Algy dropped to the floor.

The Doctor watched as Lily ran forward, following her almost as soon as she had taken off, not going to let her walk around war-torn London alone.

"Stay back!" she shouted.

"You men, stay away!" agreed Jack.

"The effect's becoming air-borne, accelerating."

"What's keeping us safe?" panicked Rose, as the air raid siren sounded.

"Nothing."

"Ah, here they come again."

"All we need, didn't you say a bomb was going to land here?"

"Never mind that!" said the Doctor. "If the contaminants airborne now, there's hours left."

"For what?"

"Till nothing, forever. For the entire human race. And can anyone else hear singing?"

Lily furrowed her eyebrows, as she could indeed hear singing. The Doctor motioned for them to be quiet as he went to go and see what it was, and returned not a minute later with Nancy. Lily ran forward giving the girl a hug. Nancy clearly hadn't been expecting this, but awkwardly returned it, making Lily smile.

-8-

"You see." Said Jack, as they uncovered the piece of 'space-junk'. "Just an ambulance."

"That's an ambulance?" asked Nancy in disbelieve.

"It's hard to explain." Said Rose. "It's from another world."

"They've been trying to get in."

"Of course they have." Said the Doctor. "They think they've got their hands on Hitler's latest secret weapon. What're you doing?"

"The sooner you see this thing is empty." Said Jack as he typed in a code. "The sooner you'll know I had nothing to do with it." Lily flinched back as sparks, a bang, and an alarm blared from the spacecraft, the access panel beginning to flash a red light. "Didn't happen last time."

"It hadn't crashed last time. They'll be emergency protocols."

"Doctor, what is that? Doctor!" shouted Rose.

"Captain, secure those gates!"

"Why?"

"Just do it! Nancy, how'd you get in here?"

"I cut the wire."

"Show Rose. Setting two thousand four hundred and twenty eight D." he said, throwing her his screwdriver.

"What?"

"Reattaches barbed wire. Now go! Lily, you stay with me."

"Why?"

"I want you where I can keep you safe." He replied, being honest, but feeling very embarrassed about it. Lily smiled, looking over his shoulder where she saw Jack open the ambulance.

"It's empty. Look at it."

"What do you expect in a Chula medical transporter? Bandages? Cough drops? Rose?"

"I don't know."

"Yes, you do."

"Nanogenes!"

"It wasn't empty, captain. There was enough nanogenes in there to rebuild a species."

"Oh, God!"

"Getting it now, are we? When the ship crashes, the nanogenes escape. Billions upon billions of them, ready to fix all the cuts and bruises in the whole world. But what they find first is a dead child, probably killed earlier that night, and wearing a has mask."

"And they brought him back to life?" asked Rose. "They can do that?"

"What's life? Life's easy. A quirk of matter. Nature's way of keeping meat fresh. Nothing to a nanogene. One problem, though. These nanogenes, they're not like the ones on your ship. This lot have never seen a human being before. Don't know what a human being's supposed to look like. All they've got to go on is one little body, and there's not a lot left. But they carry right on. They do what they're programmed to do. They patch it up. Can't tell what's gasmask and what's skull, but they do their best. Then off they fly, off they go, work to be done. Because, you see, now they think they know what people should look like and it's time to fix all the rest. And they won't stop. They won't ever, ever stop. The entire human race is going to be torn down and rebuilt in the form of one terrified child looking for its mother, and nothing in the world can stop it!"

"I didn't know!" Lily looked around, seeing the patients from the hospital surrounding them.

"It's bringing the gas mask people here isn't it?" asked Rose.

"The ship thinks it's under attack." Explained Lily. "It's calling up the troops. Standard protocol."

"But the gas mask people aren't troops."

"They are now. This is a battle-field ambulance. The nanogenes don't just fix you up, the get you ready for the front line. Equip you, programme you."

"That's why the child's so strong. Why it could do that phoning thing."

"It's a fully equipped Chula warrior. All that weapons tech in the hands of a hysterical four year old looking for his mummy. And now there's an army of them."

"Why don't they attack?" asked Jack.

"Good little soldiers." Said the Doctor. "Waiting for their commander."

"The child?"

"Jamie." They heard Nancy say.

"What?"

"Not the child. Jamie." That got Lily thinking. There had to be more to this, there had to be. Nancy knew so much about all of this, more than she should. Her brother died here, this child was her brother. But was he? As far as she could tell, the child had been following her for the past month, and if it was looking for it's mother, why would it follow anyone else?

"Nancy?" she asked. "What age are you? Twenty? Older than you look, yes?"

"Guys, that bomb." Said Jack, we've got seconds."

"You can teleport us out." Said Rose.

"Not you guys. The nav-com us back online, going to take too long to override the protocols."

"So it's volcano day." Said the Doctor. "Do what you've got to do."

"Jack?" Lily turned back to Nancy as Jack disappeared. He wouldn't just leave them. She knew him better than that, even if she'd only known him a few hours. He was better than that.

"How old were you five years ago? Fifteen? Old enough to give birth, weren't you? He's not your brother is he? A teenage single mother in 1941, so you hid and you lied, even to him." Lily didn't turn as the gate to the bomb site opened, Jamie standing there. Nancy needed her support, needed her to know that she was on her side. "Nancy, he's going to keep asking, and he's never going to stop. Tell him. The future of the human race is in her hands, trust us, and tell him." She gave her an encouraging smile, as she squeezed her hands, watching as she walked forward.

"Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy?"

"Yes. Yes, I am your mummy."

"Mummy?"

"I'm here."

"Are you my mummy?"

"Yes."

"He doesn't understand." Said Lily. "There's not enough of him left."

"I am your mummy. I will always be your mummy. I'm so sorry, I am so, so sorry." Lily watched as she hugged her son, a cloud of nanogenes surrounding them.

"What's happening?" asked Rose. "Lily, it's changing her, we should…"

"Hold on. Come on! Come on, you can do it, you clever little nanogenes. She's the mother, the mother, figure it out… that has to be enough information!"

"What's happening?"

"See?" said the Doctor. "Recognizing the same DNA. Oh come on." He said, rushing forward. "Give us a day like this. Give us this one." Lily watched as the Doctor lifted his gas mask up. "Ha ha! Welcome back! Twenty years to pop music- you're going to love it!"

"What happened?" asked Nancy.

"The nanogenes recognized the superior information." Said Lily, helping Nancy up. "The parent DNA- your DNA. They didn't change you because you changed them." The Doctor smiled at Lily as she explained what was going on. He loved it when she spoke about things, especially when it was something scientific. It was just…attractive on her…

"Doctor, that bomb." Warned Rose.

"Taken care of."

"How?"

"Psychology." They watched as the bomb hurtled towards them, getting caught in a light beam, and Jack beaming so he was sitting astride the bomb.

"Doctor!"

"Good lad!"

"The bomb has already commenced detonation. I've put it in stasis, but it won't last long."

"Change of plan. Don't need the bomb. Can you get rid of it, safely as you can?"

"Rose? Lily?"

"Yeah?"

"Goodbye." He flashed away before reappearing. "By the way, love the t—shirt." Vanishing again.

Lily frowned, watching the Doctor as he summoned nanogenes to himself.

"What are you doing?"

"Software patch. Going to email the upgrade. You want moves, Rose? I'll give you moves." The Doctor threw his hands forward onto the patients that were standing around them, watching as they fell to the ground. "Everybody lives. Just this once, everybody lives! Doctor Constantine, who never left his patients. Back on your feet, constant doctor. The world doesn't want to get by without you just yet, and I don't blame it one bit. These are your patients. All better now."

"Yes, yes, so it seems. They also seem to be standing around in a disused railway station. Is there any particular reason for that?"

"Yeah, well, you know, cutbacks." Joked Lily. "Listen, whatever was wrong with them before, you'll find that they're cured. Just tell them what a great doctor you are, yeah? Don't make a big thing of it."

-8-

"The nanogenes will clean up the mess, and switch themselves off, because I just told them to. Nancy and Jamie will go to Doctor Constantine for help, ditto. All in all, all things considered, fantastic!"

"Look at you, beaming away." Smiled Lily.

"Why not? You were fantastic there, by the way. Figuring that out. And everybody lives, Lily! Everybody lives! I need more days like this."

"Doctor." Said Rose.

"Go on, ask me anything. I'm on fire!"

"What about Jack? Why'd he say goodbye?"

-8-

"What are you doing?" asked Jack, as he stepped into the Tardis. He'd walked in to see Lily and the Doctor attempting to dance in the middle on the room, Rose laughing at them. Lily was actually doing a good job, still managing to look graceful, but the Doctor was all over the place. It was a wonder they hadn't crashed into anything yet.

"Close the door will you? Your ship's about to blow up, there's going to be a draught." Said the Doctor. "Welcome to the Tardis."

"Much bigger on the inside." He replied, as he walked over, taking Lily's hand as the Doctor had moved to start up the engine. He placed his other hand in hers and began to dance, smirking when he saw the Doctor's face. He looked borderline saddened by the fact she wasn't dancing with him, and angered at the fact that he was dancing with her, before his face changed, switching the songs.

"Hey! I've just remembered!"

"What?"

"I can dance! I can dance!" He said, pulling Lily out of Jack's arms twirling her around the room, making her laugh. That was a sound he always wanted to hear. Her laughing. It just sounded right, especially when he knew it was him that was the cause of it. He'd been so angry when Jack had danced with her. It was only for a second, but the thought of another man holding her, no. Only he was allowed to do that, and soon, hopefully if she felt the same, the world would know that. He'd just have to tell her….

A/N: Awwww! So much feels going on here! And there's more where that came from. So, we know the Doctor now plans on telling Lily his feelings, but when is he going to get the chance to? They still need to talk about that kiss… And Jack. Him deliberately teasing the Doctor there by dancing with her…But I love the fact that Lily already has so much trust in him already. That will definitely come into play later on.

I have a faint idea for the whole Bad Wolf idea at the end, but I'm not sure, so if anyone has any idea, just leave me a message. It's very much appreciated!

As always, thanks to everyone who favorites. Please remember to review!


	6. Chapter 6- Boom Town

Chapter Six- Boom Town

A/N: so we're nearly at the end of this story, although I'm looking very forward to the next series. David Tennant! Anyway…

Lily walked into the Tardis console room, seeing the Doctor up a ladder mending something. She'd told him that she'd do it. Knowing him, he'd probably break it. But he'd insisted, saying he was perfectly capable. Lily knew otherwise. In the time that she'd been here, he'd broken so many things that she'd had to fix that he'd insisted he hadn't even touched. She also saw in the doorway, Jack and someone else who she could only assume was Mickey. Rose had told her a lot about him, well, she'd asked about him after he'd been mentioned, and she really looked forward to meeting him.

"Here comes trouble! How're you doing, Ricky boy?" asked the Doctor.

"It's Mickey!"

"Don't worry. He's winding you up. He winds everyone up." Said Lily, walking towards him. "I'm Lily, by the way."

"Um, Hi." Mickey replied, awkwardly, which was good enough for Lily, as she reached to give him a hug, before pulling away so Rose could greet him. "You look fantastic." He complimented Rose.

"I think you've rubbed of on him." Joked Lily to the Doctor, noticing that he always said that.

"Aw, sweet, look at these two. How come I never get any of that?" asked Jack, winking in Lily's direction, who rolled her eyes in response.

"Buy me a drink first." Glared the Doctor, walking in front of Lily. He knew that Jack was only joking, he'd spoken to him earlier that week, and Jack had told him that he knew the Doctor loved the girl, to which the Doctor had stuttered before reluctantly admitting it. However, he still didn't like him flirting with her, even if it was to make him 'jealous' as Jack would say.

"You're such hard work."

"But worth it."

"Did you manage to find it?" asked Rose.

"There you go." Replied Mickey, handing over her passport.

"I told you, you don't need a passport."

"It's all very well going to Platform One and Justicia and the Glass Pyramid of Sam Kaloon, but what if we end up in Brazil. I might need it. You see, I'm prepared for everything."

"Sounds like your staying then. So, what are you doing in Cardiff? And who the hell's Jumping Jack Flash? I mean, I don't mind you hanging out with big-ears up there…"

"Oi!"

"Look in the mirror. But this guy, I don't know, he kind of…"

"Handsome?"

"More like cheesy."

"Early first century slang. Is cheesy good or bad?"

"It's bad." Laughed Lily. She could really get along with Mickey, she thought to herself.

"But bad means good, isn't that right?"

"Are you saying I'm not handsome?" asked the Doctor.

"Very." Agreed Lily, smiling in his direction, making him have to turn away to hide his blush, Lily laughing at his reaction.

"We just stopped of to refuel. The thing is, Cardiff's got this rift running through the middle of the city. It's invisible, but it's like an earthquake fault between different dimensions." Started Rose.

"The rift was healed back in 1869." Continued the Doctor.

"Thanks to a girl named Gwyneth, because these creatures called the Gelth, they were using the rift as a gateway but she saved the world and closed it."

"But closing the rift always leaves a scar, and that scar generates energy, harmless to the human race." Added Jack.

"But perfect for the Tardis. So, just park it here for a couple of days right on top of the scar and…"

"…open up the engines, soak up the radiation…"

"…like filling her up with petrol and off we go!"

"Into time!"

"And space!" finished the three of them together.

"My God, have you seen yourselves? You all think you're so clever don't you? How do you put up with them?" Mickey asked Lily, who had been staring at the three of them while they were speaking with an amused look. Normally it was her and the Doctor continuing trains of thoughts since they could read each others, but that was just plain weird. And maybe it was due to the fact she hadn't been with them when they met the Gelth, and Jack knew a lot about time energy. She wasn't sure on that last one, but whatever it was; but it made good entertainment in her eyes.

"No idea. Got used to it I suppose." Lily joked, earning herself glares from the other three in the room. "What are we waiting for, then! Come on." She said, pulling the Doctor out of the Tardis by the hand.

"Should take another twenty four hours, which means we've got time to kill." Said the Doctor as they walked through Roald Dahl Plass, explaining why they were leaving the Tardis.

"That old lady's staring." Stated Mickey.

"Probably wondering what five people could do inside a small wooden box." Laughed Jack, making Lily chuckle.

"What are you captain of, the Innuendo Squad?" Jack gave him a look and walked away next to Rose. "Wait, the Tardis, we can't just leave it. Doesn't it get noticed?"

"Yeah, what's with the police box? Why does it look like that?"

"It's a cloaking device." Replied Rose.

"It's called a chameleon circuit." Explained Lily. "The Tardis is meant to disguise itself wherever it lands, like…if this was Ancient Rome, it'd be a statue or a plinth or something. But he landed in the 1960s, it disguised itself as a police box, and the circuit got stuck. Well, he said it got stuck. I wouldn't put it past him to have broken it with a hammer or something."

"Oh, haha."

"So it's a copy of a real thing?" asked Mickey. "There actually were police boxes?"

"Yeah, on street corners. Phone for help before they had radios and mobiles. If they arrested someone, they could shove them inside until help came, like a prison cell."

The Doctor smiled. He loved it when she explained things. She'd always been smarter than him, even though she was younger; she was just amazing that way. When they were still in the Academy, she'd been relatively shy compared to how she was now. She had an attitude, such as in the library when they'd met, but she was still quite shy. It made him happy when she was explaining things with ease.

"Why don't you just fix the circuit?" asked Jack.

"I like it. Don't you, it's great!" The Doctor's smile turned into a grin.

"I love it." Added Rose.

"But that's what I meant! There's no police boxes anymore, so doesn't it get noticed?"

"Ricky." Said the Doctor. "Let me tell you something about the human race. You put a mysterious blue box slap bang in the middle of town, what do they do? Walk past it. Now, stop your nagging. Let's go and explore."

"What's the plan?"

"I don't know. Cardiff, early twenty first century and the wind's coming from the east. Trust me. Safest place in the universe." Lily scoffed. Every time he said something like that, something bad happened, and she was sure this time would be no exception.

-8-

"I swear." Said Jack. "Six feet tall with big tusks…"

"You're lying through your teeth!"

"I'd have gone bonkers!" laughed Rose. "That's the word- bonkers!"

"I mean, it turns out the white things are tusks and I mean tusks! And it's woken, and it's not happy."

"How could you not know it was there?" asked Lily.

"And we're standing there, fifteen of us, naked…"

"Naked?!"

"And I'm like, oh, no, no, it's got nothing to do with me. And then it roars, and we are running. Oh my God, we are running! And Brakivitch falls, so I turn to him and I say…"

"I knew I should've turned left!" butted in Mickey with the punch line, setting the others off into fits of laughter.

"That's my line!"

"I don't believe you." Scoffed Rose. "I don't believe a word you say, ever. That is so brilliant. Did you ever get your clothes back?" Lily stopped listening as she watched the Doctor stand up to snatch a newspaper from a man sitting nearby, his face turning into a frown as he looked up.

"And I was having such a nice day." He held up a picture of a woman holding her hand to the camera as if she didn't want her picture taken. His face was grim. The last time he'd seen Margaret, she'd almost destroyed the Earth, nearly taking him and Rose with her. Now Lily was here, and he couldn't let her get hurt. Whatever she was doing back on Earth, one thing was for certain: she was up to no good.

-8-

They walked into the city hall foyer, stopping at the bottom of the stairs.

"According to intelligence, the target is the last surviving member of the Slitheen family, a criminal sect from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorious, masquerading as a human being, zipped inside a skin suit. Okay, plan of attack; we assume a basic fifty seven fifty six strategy, covering all available exits on the ground floor. Doctor, you go face to face. That'll designate Exit One, I'll cover Exit Two with Lily. Rose, you Exit Three. Mickey Smith, you take Exit Four. Have you got that?" said Jack. Lily saw the Doctor and Rose rolling their eyes at what he was saying, but she was listening, not having been there the previous time they'd met the Slitheen. She knew about them, sure. They'd learnt about hundreds of alien species in the academy, but she still figured that it would be nice to at least make Jack feel like he was doing some good explaining it to them.

"Excuse me. Who's in charge?" asked the Doctor, a shocked look on his face like he wouldn't expect someone else to take charge.

"Sorry. Awaiting orders, sir." As if to prove the point he was making, Jack and Lily mock saluted the Doctor, causing him to glare, which only made them laugh.

"Right, here's the plan. Like he said. Nice plan. Anything else?"

"Present arms." The four of them pulled out their mobiles, Lily having to look over Jack's shoulder to look at his since she didn't have one.

"Ready."

"Ready."

"Ready."

"Ready. Speed dial?"

"Yup."

"Ready."

"Check."

"See you in hell."

-8-

The Doctor made his way towards the mayor's office. He wasn't that happy with the fact that Lily had gone with Jack, but there wasn't really anything he could do about it. He knew Jack wouldn't try anything. Despite everything, he was coming to actually trusting the man, and he knew that Lily trusted him, and considered him a very good friend to her, even like family to her. And he knew that she could take care of herself. He'd just have to stop himself worrying about her. Besides, if he really wanted to, he could look or speak to her through their minds, ease his worrying. But it wouldn't resort to that.

"Hello, I've come to see the Lord Mayor." He said to the man sitting at a desk nearby.

"Have you got an appointment?"

"No. just an old friend passing by. Bit of a surprise. Can't wait to see her face."

"Well, she's just having a cup of tea."

"Just go in there, and tell her the Doctor would like to see her."

"Doctor who?"

"Just the Doctor. Tell her exactly that. The Doctor."

"Hang on a tick." He watched as he walked into the office, waiting until he could hear a cup smash on the floor. He looked up as the door opened again. "The Lord Mayor says thank you for popping by. She'd love to have a chat, but, er, she's up to her eyes in paperwork. Perhaps if you could make an appointment for next week…?"

"She's climbing out of the window, isn't she?"

"Yes, she is."

"Slitheen heading north!"

-8-

"Over and out." Replied Jack over the phone. Lily watched as he quickly put the phone back in his pocket. She'd heard what was said over the phone- an advantage to being a time lord, they had heightened senses- and didn't hesitate to take Jack's outstretched hand as they set off running, jumping over a tea trolley on the way. Lily grabbed a biscuit as they passed, causing Jack to give her a 'was that really necessary' look. She grinned in response as they reached an archway, blocking Margaret from continuing that way. They followed her as she continued to run, turning towards a car park the way Mickey was supposed to be blocking.

"Who's on exit four?" He asked as Rose and the Doctor came into view.

"That was Mickey!".

"Here I am!" cried Mickey as he came into view.

"Mickey the idiot."

"Oh, be fair, she's not exactly going to outrun us, is she?"

Lily watched as Margaret teleported a few seconds later, still nibbling on her biscuit.

"What have you got there?" asked the Doctor, watching her eat.

"I believe the humans call it a Jammie Dodger." She replied, smirking. "It's good. We should get some for the Tardis." She was knocked out of her thoughts by Jack shouting.

"She's got a teleport! That's cheating! Now we're never going to get her!"

"Wait for it." Lily smirked as the Doctor held up his sonic screwdriver, making Margaret reappear. She continued to watch as Margaret repeatedly teleported away only to be brought back.

"I could do this all day."

"This is persecution!" shouted Margaret, now in front of them. "Why can't you leave me alone? What did I ever do to you?"

"You tried to kill them, and destroy this entire planet." Said Lily, innocently. Margaret rolled her eyes.

"Apart from that." The Doctor chuckled as he wrapped an arm around Lily's waist, walking towards City Hall. This was a feeling he could get used to.

-8-

"So you're a Slitheen, you're on Earth, you're trapped. Your family get killed but you teleport out just in the nick of time. You have no means of escape. What do you do? You build a nuclear power station. But what for?" questioned the Doctor. He didn't like this. A Slitheen being here meant that there was danger, and a nuclear power station didn't make things any better. He needed to get Lily out of danger, and to do that, he needed to figure out what Margaret was up to.

"A philanthropic gesture. I've learnt the error of my ways."

Lily scoffed. "And it is just a coincidence that it's right on top of the rift, then." Personally, she didn't trust this alien as far as she could throw her, and given the weight of Slitheen's, that obviously wasn't much. Lily was always one who was able to judge a person easily, and she definitely did not like this woman.

"What rift would that be?"

"A rift in space and time. If this power station went into meltdown, the entire planet would go-." Jack made a boom sound.

"This station is designed to explode the minute it reaches capacity."

"Didn't anyone notice?" asked Rose. "Isn't there someone in London checking this sort of stuff?"

"We're in Cardiff." Scoffed Margaret. "The South Wales coast could fall into the sea and they wouldn't notice. London doesn't care. God help me, I've gone native." Lily snorted in amusement despite the situation. She always had a habit of laughing at the wrong times. Whenever people were trying to be serious, she would always be the one to start laughing. She figured it was to provide a bit of humour to the situation, something she'd been deprived of for 12 years when she'd been locked up, and before even that when she was fighting in the war. She quickly put on a straight face after one look from the Doctor, but even she could see that he found what Margaret said at least a tiny bit funny, not that he'd let Margaret see that, unlike Lily.

"But why would she do that?" asked Mickey. "A great big explosion, she'd only end up killing herself."

"She's got a name you know."

"She's not even a she, she's a thing." Lily, who was already subduing her laughter from before, bit into her fist to stop herself from laughing further. I must just be in one of those moods, she thought to herself.

"Oh, but she's clever." Commented the Doctor. "Fantastic." He said, pulling out an electronic board out of the model of the power station.

"Is that a tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator?" asked Lily.

"Took the words right of out my mouth." Said Jack.

"Couldn't have put it better myself." Beamed the Doctor.

"Oo, genius! You didn't build this?"

"I have my hobbies. A little tinkering."

"No." inputted Lily. "He means, that you _really_ didn't build this. It's way beyond you."

"I bet she stole it!"

"Not helping Mickey."

"It fell into my hands."

"Is it a weapon?" asked Rose.

"It's transport. You see, if the reactor blows, the rift opens. Phenomenal cosmic disaster. But this thing shrouds you in a forcefield. You have this energy bubble, so you're safe. Then you feed it coordinates, stand on top, and ride the concussion all the way out of the solar system." Explained Jack.

"It's a surfboard."

"A pan-dimensional surfboard, yeah."

"And it would've worked. I'd have surfed away from this dead end dump back to civilization."

"You'd blow up the whole planet just to get a lift?" scoffed Mickey.

"Like stepping on an anthill."

"How'd you think of the name?" asked the Doctor, looking at the banner.

"What, Blaidd Drwg? It's Welsh."

"I know, but how did you think of it?"

"I chose it at random, that's all. It just sounded good. Does it matter?"

"Blaidd Drwg."

"What's it mean?" asked Rose.

"Bad Wolf."

"But I've heard that before. Bad Wolf. I've heard that lots of times."

"Everywhere we go. Two words following us. Bad Wolf."

"How can they be following us?"

"Nah, just a coincidence. Like hearing a word on the radio then hearing it all day. Never mind. Things to do. Margaret, we're going to take you home." Lily frowned. She could tell he was still worried about the whole 'Bad Wolf' thing. It couldn't be _just_ a coincidence, but he was blowing it off as one just to calm the others down, to make them not worry. That was just one of the amazing things she thought about him, always putting others first.

"Hold on." Interrupted Jack, knocking Lily out of her train of thoughts. A look from the Doctor told her that he'd caught them, and was looking at her as if to say he agreed with what she was thinking. This wasn't a coincidence. "Isn't that the easy option, like letting her go?"

"I don't believe it!" shouted Rose. "We actually get to go to Raxa…Wait a minute. Raxacor…"

"Raxacoricofallapatorious." Corrected Lily.

"Raxacorico…"

"Fallapatorius."

"Raxacoricofallapatorious. That's it! I did it!"

"They have the death penalty." Said Margaret lowly. "The family Slitheen was tried in its absence many years ago and found guilty with no chance of appeal. According to the statutes of government, the moment I return, I am to be executed. What do you make of that, Doctor? Take me home, and you take me to my death."

"Not my problem."

"Everything has it's time." Added Lily, before walking back to the Tardis. She knew that well enough by now.

-8-

"This ship is impossible!" exclaimed Margaret. "It's superb. How do you get the outside around the inside?" Lily rolled her eyes. It was obvious she was trying to 'charm' her way out of the situation. Like that was going to work, she thought to herself.

"Like I'd give you the secret, yeah." Replied the Doctor, laughing to himself hearing what Lily was thinking.

"I almost feel better about being defeated. I never stood a chance. This is the technology of the gods."

"Don't worship me- I'd make a very bad god. You wouldn't get a day off. If you worship anyone, worship Lily, although, wouldn't want that head getting any bigger." He joked, making her smack him on the arm in response. "Jack, how we doing, big fella?"

"This extrapolator's top of the range. Where did you get it?"

"Oh, I don't know. Some airlock sale?"

"Must've been a great big heist. It's stacked with power."

"But can we use it for fuel?" asked the Doctor.

"It's not compatible, but it should knock off about twelve hours. We'll be ready to go by morning."

"Then we're stuck here overnight."

"I'm in no hurry." Said Margaret.

"We've got a prisoner." Grinned Rose. "The police box is really a police box."

"You're not just police though. Since you're taking me to my death, that makes you my executioners. Each and every one of you."

"Well, you deserve it." Spat Mickey.

"You're very quick to say so. You're very quick to soak your hands in my blood, which makes you better than me, how, exactly? Long night ahead. Let's see who can look me in the eye." Lily sat at the console, staring Margaret blatantly in the eye when she looked. Although Lily didn't like death, she always knew when it felt 'right' to put it in so many words. It was obvious Margaret wasn't going to change, they'd be doing Earth a favour. That was what Lily told herself to make her believe she was doing the right thing.

-8-

Lily knelt down by the extrapolator next to Jack, examining it. She wasn't comfortable having a threat in the Tardis, so distracting herself with something seemed like the best possible solution for the time being.

"So, what's on?" asked Jack.

"Nothing, just…"

"I gather it's not always like this, having to wait." Said Margaret. "I bet you're always the first to leave, Doctor. You and your Lily friend." Lily looked up upon hearing her name. "She's like you, isn't she, Doctor? Always running. Never mind the consequences, off you go. You butchered my family and then ran for the stars, am I right? But not this time. At last you have consequences. How does it feel?"

"I didn't butcher them."

"Don't answer back. That's what she wants." Butted in Jack.

"I didn't! What about you? You had an emergency teleport. You didn't zap them to safety, did you?"

"It only carries one. I had to fly without coordinates. I ended up on a skip in the Isle of Dogs. It wasn't funny."

"Sorry. It is a bit funny." Lily cracked a smile at that.

"Do I get a last request?"

"Depends what it is."

"I grew quite fond of my little human life. All those rituals. The brushing of the teeth, and the complicated way they cook things. There's a little restaurant just around the Bay. It became quite a favourite of mine."

"Is that what you want, a last meal?"

"Don't I have rights?"

"Oh, like she's not going to try and escape!" scoffed Jack.

"Except I can never escape the Doctor, so where's the danger? I wonder if you could do it? To sit with a creature you're about to kill and take supper. How strong is your stomach?"

"Strong enough."

"I wonder. I've seen you fight your enemies, now dine with them."

"You won't change my mind."

"Prove it."

"There are people out there. If you slip away just for one second, they'll be in danger."

"Except." Interrupted Lily. "I found these in Jack's pocket." She grinned, seeing the shocked look on Jack's face as he searched his pockets to find the bracelets that she'd pick pocketed. "You both wear one. If she moves more than ten feet away, she'll get zapped with ten thousand volts."

"Margaret, would you like to come out for dinner? My treat."

"Dinner in bondage. Works for me."

"You going to be ok?" The Doctor asked Lily, who was busy working on the extrapolator again.

"Yeah." She replied, giving him a brief glance. "Stay safe."

"I always do." She rolled her eyes before smiling.

-8-

"So." Said Jack, as they were left in the Tardis. "You and the Doctor, huh?" Lily coughed awkwardly.

"What do you mean?"

Jack laughed. She was so obvious. "It isn't that hard to tell, you know? All the little smiles, the hand holding…" He wiggled his eyebrows, making Lily whack him in the arm.

"Shut up, you idiot!" She cast her eyes down. "It's not like he knows or anything…"

"Then you should tell him." She snapped her head up. "Seriously, you're like my sister, and even I can see how happy he makes you. You deserve to be happy." Tears welled in Lily's eyes. The brothers she'd had at home were relatively close to her, that was true, but they never showed her the affection and guidance that Jack was doing now. That was one of the reasons Lily stayed with the Doctor so much when she was younger. "But I really don't see how you cannot notice he feels the same. Besides, a little birdie told me you've kissed already, huh?"

"I'm gonna kill Rose..." Lily muttered. It was true, she _still_ hadn't spoken to the Doctor about that, she just found so many reasons to avoid the conversation, even though he'd tried repeatedly to bring it up. But she knew she couldn't avoid it forever. She'd always loved him, but that kiss had made those feelings stronger, so much so, she didn't like even being separated from him, hence her subdued behaviour when he was leaving with Margaret. She hated him going off on his own with someone who was a threat to him. Who could _hurt_ him. Just as Jack was going to reply, a bang sounded from the extrapolator at their feet, causing them to move and Lily cradle her hand as it had been burnt from the sparks. She watched as Jack moved around the console, trying to fix whatever was happening, Lily trying to help but finding it difficult with only one hand. It wasn't a bad burn, only something that would hurt for a few minutes, but at the moment she was willing herself not to notice the pain.

"What the hell are you doing?" shouted the Doctor as he ran into the Tardis, Margaret following him not far behind.

"It just went crazy!" shouted Jack.

"It's the rift. Time and space are ripping apart. The whole city's going to disappear!" He glanced at Lily. "What happened to your hand?" He asked, taking it in his.

"It's nothing, just a small burn. It doesn't even hurt now." That was a lie, even though it only stung a bit now, it still hurt a little, not like she'd let him know, even though he could probably feel it through their connection. "It's the extrapolator." She explained, trying to take the attention away from herself. "I disconnected it, but it's still feeding off the engine. It's using the Tardis. We can't stop it!"

"Never mind Cardiff! It's going to rip open the planet."

"What is it?" asked Rose, who had run into the Tardis. "What's happening?"

"Oh, just little me!" yelled Margaret, grabbing Rose around the neck using her arm, which had been taken out of her body suit. "One wrong move and she snaps like a promise."

"I knew you couldn't be trusted!" shouted Lily, ready to lunge forward if it wasn't for the Doctor grabbing her around the waist.

"Good move, Doctor. I've had you bleating all night, poor baby, now shut it! You, fly boy, put the extrapolator at my feet. Thank you. Just as I planned."

"I thought you needed to blow up the nuclear power station." Chocked out Rose.

"Failing that, if I were to be arrested, then anyone capable of tracking me down would have considerable technology of their own. Therefore, they would be captivated by the extrapolator. Especially a magpie mind like yours Doctor. Although your…girlfriend." She spat out the word, looking at Lily, who was glaring daggers at her. "Seemed a lot more interested, I have to say. So the extrapolator was programmed to go to plan B. To lock onto the nearest alien power source and open the rift. And what a power source it found. I'm back on schedule, thanks to you."

"The rift's going to convulse. You'll destroy the whole planet!"

"And you with it! While I ride this board over the crest of the inferno all the way to freedom. Stand back boys. Surf's up." Lily's glare had never faltered on her the entire time she was speaking, but turning her head to the side, she saw the Tardis console crack open, revealing a bright white light that made her look away. She knew what could happen if you looked into that light, and it wasn't good.

"Of course." Said the Doctor, still holding onto Lily the entire time. "Opening the rift means you'll pull this ship apart."

"So sue me."

"It's not just any old ship. It's the Tardis. Our Tardis." He gave Lily a squeeze, making her smile. He liked the sound of that. _Our_ Tardis. He truly wasn't alone anymore. "The best ship in the universe."

"It'll make wonderful scrap."

"What's that light?" asked Rose.

"The heart of the Tardis. This ship's alive. You've opened its soul."

"It's so bright." Commented Margaret.

"Look at it, Margaret."

"Beautiful."

"Look inside, Blon Fel Fotch. Look at the light." Lily watched as Margaret's face went peaceful, releasing Rose who ran to Jack, and looked up smiling.

"Thank you."

"Don't look!" shouted the Doctor, as Margaret disappeared into the light. "Stay there, close your eyes! Now, Jack." He said as the console closed. "Come on, shut it all down. Shut down! Rose, that panel over there, turn all the switches to the right."

"What about me?" asked Lily.

"You stay here." It was true that she was _still_ wrapped in the Doctor's arms, not that she minded. They'd even walked to the other side of the console, though how, Lily was not sure. "Nicely done. Thank you, all."

"What happened to Margaret?" asked Rose.

"Must've got burnt up." Replied Jack. "Carried out her own death sentence."

"No, I don't think she's dead."

"Then where'd she go?"

"She looked into the heart of the Tardis." Explained Lily. "Even we don't know how strong that is. And the ship's telepathic. Gets inside your head. Translates alien languages among other things. Maybe, the raw energy can translate all sorts of thoughts." She pulled herself out of the Doctor's arms crouching down to find a large egg inside the body suit that was on the floor. "Here she is!"

"She's an egg?" asked Rose.

"She's regressed to her childhood, yes."

"She's an egg?" repeated Jack.

"She can start again!" inputted the Doctor. "Live her life from scratch. If we take her home, give her to a different family, tell them to bring her up properly, she might be all right!"

"Or she might be worse."

"That's her choice."

"She's an egg." Commented Rose.

"She's an egg!"

"Oh, my God. Mickey!" Lily watched as Rose ran out of the Tardis, frowning as a few minutes later, she returned without him.

"We're all powered up. We can leave. Opening the rift filled us up with energy. We can go, if that's all right?" asked the Doctor.

"Yeah, fine."

"How's Mickey?" asked Lily.

"He's okay, he's gone."

"Do you want us to wait. You can go and find him?"

"No need. He deserves better."

"Off we go then!" said the Doctor. "Always moving on."

"Next stop, Raxacoricofallapatorious. Now you don't often get to say that." Said Jack.

"We'll just stop by and pop her in the hatchery. Margaret the Slitheen can live her life again. A second chance."

"That'd be nice." Mused Rose as she walked back to her room, followed by Jack a minute later.

-8-

"How's your hand now?" asked the Doctor, as he and Lily sat at the console.

"Fine. It was only a small burn. I think it'll be red for a while though." She frowned. She watched as the Doctor gently took hold of her hand, lifting it up to his mouth to place a gentle kiss on the burn. "What was that for?" she asked quietly, a small blush appearing on her cheeks which she tried to get rid of to no avail.

"I felt like it." He replied with a grin, now that he knew she wasn't going to protest. "Besides, you still owe me an explanation."

Knowing that playing dumb was not going to worm her way out of this situation, she sighed. "You're talking about, after you'd… died right?" He nodded. "Well, I was relieved that you were alive…and…" she drifted off. She knew what she wanted to tell him, but the words would not come out. Her mind was full of 'what if's'. What if he didn't feel the same? What if he wouldn't want her around anymore? No. She snapped herself out of it. This was the Doctor she was talking about. He wouldn't do that.

The Doctor sat patiently next to her as she struggled to find the right words. He knew what he wanted her to say, but if she would say it was another matter. He wanted that kiss to have meant something. Meant to her what it did to him. "What?"

"I love you, okay?" she finally managed to get out. She closed her eyes. She'd said it, she couldn't take it back, but when she thought about it, she wouldn't want to. He knew now. He knew how she felt, and now it was up to him. She breathed deeply, opening her eyes, looking up to see a look of shock upon the Doctor's face. This did nothing to help her nerves. Stuttering an apology, she stood up, making her way around the console. It must be bad if _the Doctor_ was speechless.

"Wait." She stopped, not turning, just waiting. She felt herself being turned around by her shoulders, and her face being lifted up under her chin. She was snapped out of her thoughts by feeling a pair of lips on hers. Not even thinking, she kissed back. Wasn't this a moment she had waited for for _years_? This was so much better than last time. Knowing her feelings were mutual, it made her happy. Separating, she saw the Doctor smiling fondly at her.

"Finally." He whispered. She gave him a confused look. "You ran every time I wanted to speak about it. I was beginning to think I had no chance."

"Chance at what?" she asked.

"To tell you, I love you, too." She grinned, and pulled him in for another kiss. If they were looking, they would have seen Rose and Jack smiling at the couple, happy to see them finally together.

A/N: Awww! They're finally together! But will it last? Next up, Bad Wolf! Any ideas for what will happen will be greatly appreciated!

And, two weeks since I updated! I'll defiantly try to update more often. Personally, I love the little conversation they had at the end, so many emotions!

Please remember to review and favourite. Reviews drive me to write more!


	7. Chapter 7- Bad Wolf

Chapter Seven- Bad Wolf

The Doctor woke and sat up with a sudden motion. To say his head was pounding was an understatement. "What is it? What's happening?" He asked, looking around. He was in what he could only describe as a house. There were three other people in the room, all sitting on a sofa facing a TV and he couldn't see Lily, Jack or Rose anywhere. This made him slightly panic. Something definitely wasn't right, and Lily wasn't here. He didn't know if she was safe. He needed to get to her, and to do that, he needed to know where he was and what was going on.

"Oh, my God! I don't believe it!" shouted a woman who was jumping off of the sofa to help him. "Why'd they put you in there? They never said you were coming."

"What happened? I was…"

"Careful now. Oh. Oh, mind yourself! Oh, that's the transmat. It scrambles your head. I was sick for days. All right? So, what's your name then, sweetheart?"

"The Doctor. I think, I was, er…I don't know, what happened? How…?"

"You got chosen!"

"Chosen for what?"

"You're a housemate. You're in the house. Isn't that brilliant!"

"That's not fair!" moaned the man on the sofa. "We've got eviction in five minutes. I've been here for all nine weeks, I've followed the rules, I haven't had a single warning, and then he comes swanning in!"

"If they keep changing the rules, I'm going to protest, I am! You watch me. I'm going to paint the walls."

The Doctor gave them a confused look as a voice echoed throughout the room. "Would the Doctor please come to the Diary Room? You are on live channel forty four thousand. Please do not swear."

"You have got to be kidding."

-8-

"I can't open it." Complained the Doctor as he tried to sonic the door open.

"It's got a deadlock seal, ever since Big Brother five hundred and four when they all walked out. You must remember that."

"What about this?"

"Oh, that's exoglass. You need a nuclear bomb to get through."

"Don't tempt me." The Doctor sighed. That was the type of thing that Lily would laugh at.

"I know you're not supposed to talk about the outside world, but you must've been watching. Do people like me? Lynda. Lynda with a Y, not Linda with an I. she got forcibly evicted because she damaged the camera. Am I popular?"

"I don't remember."

"Oh, but does that mean I'm nothing? Some people get this far just because they're insignificant. Doesn't anybody notice me?"

"No, you're, you're nice. You're sweet. Everybody thinks you're sweet."

"Oh, is that right? Is that what I am? Oh, no one's ever told me that before. Am I sweet?"

"Yeah. Dead sweet."

"Thank you."

"It's a wall. Isn't there supposed to be a garden out there or something?" The longer he stayed here, the more he knew something was wasn't right, and Lily was out there. There must be a way to get out.

"Don't be daft. No one's got a garden anymore. Who's got a garden? Don't tell me you've got a garden."

"No, I've just got the Tardis. Me and…I supposed you'd call her a girlfriend though she's so much more…I remember!"

"That's the amnesia! So what happened? Where did they get you?"

"We'd just left Raxacoricofallapatorious. Then we went to Kyoto. That's right, Japan in 1336, and we only just escaped. We were together, we were laughing…" He thought about when they were together, when Lily was with him. They'd been kissing, making up for lost time, he'd called it. "… and then there was this light. This white light coming through the walls, and then, and then I woke up here."

"Yeah, that's the transmat beam. That's how they pick the housemates."

"Oh, Lynda with a Y. Sweet little Lynda. It's worse than that. I'm not just a passing traveler. No stupid little transmat beam gets inside my ship. That beam was fifteen million times more powerful, which means this isn't just a game. There's something else going on. Well…" he said, facing the camera in the corner. "Here's the latest update from the Big Brother house. I'm getting out. I'm going to find my friends, I _will_ find Lily, and then, I'm going to find you."

-8-

Lily woke up suddenly, blinking quickly at the sudden change of light. She lifted her head up to see what looked like an obstacle course, with various people walking around. She suddenly felt arms go under her arms, hoisting her up.

"Steady, come on, I've got you." Lily turned to see a man that looked at least 20 helping her up. He looked friendly enough, but Lily could see in his eyes the look of fear that seemed to be a constant warning as she looked around.

"Where am I?"

"Come on, how do you not know where you are?" he asked, giving a slight chuckle that Lily knew he was doing to try and reassure himself as well as her.

"I don't remember..."

"Oh, yeah! That's probably the transmat beam."

"But…" she wracked her memories. "Transmat beams don't just get inside my ship. What is this place?"

"Total wipeout. Listen, just, cross it as fast as you can. Gruesome game, this is." Lily's eyes widened as she looked around. Rose had shown her some human TV, and thinking about it, this looked almost exactly like the total wipeout gameset. Although, she could see some considerable changes. The punching wall now had spikes on the gloves, steam rising from the mud pit that suggested it was boiling hot. The mallet that pushed you off of the platform near the big red balls was now a massive metal hammer, and that was only a few of the changes. Lily gulped.

"There is no way I'm doing this."

"Shhhhhh!" The man's hand quickly went over her mouth. "Don't say that. You really don't want to. I'm Louis by the way."

"Lily."

"So, where you from?"

"I'm, a traveler, I travel. Homeless. Bit of a hermit, I suppose." She joked. "But there's something wrong here. I shouldn't be here."

"No, see, that's the transmat beam. Beamed you straight here."

"But-"

"Take your places!" echoed a voice around the room.

-8-

"Doctor, they said all the housemates must gather on the sofa. You've got to."

"I'm busy getting out, thanks." He was getting short tempered; these people didn't understand what was going on here.

"But if you don't obey, then all the housemates get punished."

"Well, maybe I'll be voted out then!"

"How stupid are you?" asked the other man in the room. "You've only just joined, you're not eligible."

"Big Brother house, this is Davina Droid. Crosbie, Lynda and Strood, you have all been nominated for eviction. And the eighth person to be evicted from the Big Brother house is…Crosbie!"

"I'm sorry! Oh, I'm sorry! Sorry!" exclaimed Lynda. The Doctor leaned back on the sofa rolling his eyes.

"Oh, it should've been me. Oh, that's not fair, Crosbie love."

"Crosbie, you have tens seconds to make your farewells, and then we're going to get you!"

"I won't forget you!"

"Crosbie, please leave the Big Brother house."

"I don't believe it." Wept Lynda. "Crosbie…"

"It's only a gameshow!" intervened the Doctor. To be honest, he was getting sick of the way they were going on about all this. "She'll make a fortune on the outside. Sell her story, release a record, fitness video, all of that. She'll be laughing!"

"What do you mean? On the outside?"

"Here we go."

"What are they waiting for? Why don't they just let her go?" asked the Doctor as he watched Crosbie stand in a room, not doing anything on the TV.

"Stop it, it's not funny!"

"Eviction in five, four, three, two, one." A beam of light came from the ceiling from where Crosbie was standing, hitting her. The Doctor leant forward as smoke cleared, revealing that she had vanished.

"What was that?"

"Disintegrator beam."

"She's been evicted. From life."

"Are you insane? You just step right into the disintegrator? Is it that important, getting your face on the telly? Is it worth dying for?"

"You're talking like we've got a choice!"

"But I thought you had to apply?"

"Don't be so stupid." Scoffed Strood. "That's how they played it centuries back."

"You get chosen whether you like it or not. Everyone on Earth is a potential contestant. The transmat beam picks you out at random. And its non stop. There are sixty Big Brother houses running all at once."

"How many? Sixty?"

"They've had to cut back. It's not what is was."

"It's a charnel house! What about the winners? What do they get?"

"They get to live."

"Is that it?"

"Well isn't that enough?"

"Lily is out there. My friends are out there. They got caught in the transmat. They're contestants. Time I got out. That other contestant, er…Linda, with an I, she was forcibly evicted for what?"

"Damage to property."

"What, like this?" The Doctor held his sonic screwdriver up to the camera, flicking the switch, breaking the camera and making it inactive.

"The Doctor, you've broken the house rules. Big Brother has no choice but to evict you. You have ten seconds to make your farewells, and then we're going to get you!"

"That's more like it! Come on, then. Open up!"

"You're mad!" shouted Lynda. "It's like you want to die."

"I reckon he's a plant." Muttered Strood. "He was only brought in to stir things up."

"The Doctor, please leave the Big Brother house."

"Come on, then!" shouted the Doctor, standing in the room that Crosbie was stood in earlier. The sooner he was out of here, the sooner he could find Lily, find out what was going on, and leave. Get her out of danger. "Disintegrate me! Come on, what're you waiting for?"

"He is, he's mad. He's bonkers."

"Disintegrate me! What are you waiting for?"

"Eviction in five, four, three, two one."

"Ah ha! I knew it!" he shouted as the machine powered down, leaving him perfectly fine. "You see, someone brought me into this game. If they'd wanted me dead, they could've transmatted me into a volcano. They want me alive. Maybe security isn't tight this end. Are you following this? I'm getting out. Come with me." He said, offering his hand to Lynda.

"We're not allowed!" shouted Strood in the background.

"Stay in there, you've got a fifty fifty chance of disintegration. Stay with me, I promise I'll get you out alive. Come on!"

"No, I can't. I can't."

"Lynda, you're sweet. From what I've seen of your world, do you think anyone votes for sweet?" He smiled as Lynda took his hand, walking through the other door out of the game room into a bigger one that was mostly empty that made the Doctor stop in his tracks. "Hold on. I've been here before. This is Satellite Five. No guards. That makes a change. You'd think a big business like Satellite Five would be armed to the teeth."

"No one's called it Satellite Five in ages. It's the Game Station now. Hasn't been Satellite Five in about a hundred years."

"A hundred years exactly. It's the year two zero zero one zero zero. I was here before, floor one three nine. The Satellite was broadcasting news channels back then. Had a bit of trouble upstairs. Nothing too serious. Easy. Gave them a hand, home in time for tea."

"A hundred years ago? What, you were here one hundred years ago?"

"Yep!"

"You're looking good on it."

"I moisturize. Well, Lily does it actually. Says she can do it better than me, but I think that's just an excuse." He shook himself out of his thoughts. Lynda smiled, seeing him smile as he thought about this Lily girl she was yet to meet. "Funny sorts of readings. All kinds of energy. The place is humming. It's weird. This goes way beyond normal transmissions. What would they need all that power for?"

"I don't know. I think we're the first ever contestants to get outside."

"I have three friends traveling with me. They must've been caught in the same transmat. Where would they be?"

"I don't know. They could've been allocated anywhere. There's a hundred different games."

"Like what?"

"Well, there's ten floors of Big Brother. There's a different house behind each of those doors. And then beyond that, there's all sorts of shows. It's non stop. There's Call My Bluff, with real guns. Countdown, where you've got thirty seconds to stop the bomb going off. Ground Force, you get turned to compost. Er, Wipeout, nasty, that one. Speaks for itself really. Oh, and Stars In Their Eyes. Literally, stars in their eyes. If you don't sing, you get blinded."

"And you watch this stuff?" The Doctor asked, worriedly. If Lily was in one of those games, what was going to happen to her?

"Everyone does. How come you don't?"

"Never paid for my license."

"Oh my God! You get executed for that!"

"Let them try." He smirked.

"You keep saying things that don't make sense. Who are you though? Doctor, really?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Well, it does to me. I've just put my life in your hands."

"I'm just a traveler, wandering past. Believe it or not, all I'm after is a quiet life, with Lily…"

"So, if we get out of here, what're you going to do? Just wander off again?"

"Fast as I can."

"So, I could come with you? Lily wouldn't mind, would she, I mean…?"

"Maybe you could. She'd love you, Lynda with a Y." He grinned. She would, Lily loved meeting new people, as long as they were good people. That was just one of the things that made her so lovable, in his eyes anyway. She got along with so many people.

"I wouldn't get in the way!"

"I wouldn't mind if you did. Not a bad idea Lynda. But first of all, we've got to concentrate on the getting out. And to do that, you've got to know your enemy as Lily says. Who's controlling it? Who's in charge of the satellite now?"

"Hold on." Said Lynda, running to the side and flicking the lights on, making a huge _Bag Wolf Corporation_ sign light up on the wall in large letters. "Your lords and masters."

-8-

Lily stood to the side with Louis as she watched the first contestant on the obstacle course. She couldn't help but feel a huge pit of worry in her stomach at what was about to come. They'd been doing well so far, now reaching the 'big red balls'.

"If he doesn't get a move on, he's done for."

"Don't be stupid." Scoffed Lily. "It's a sponge and stuff, isn't it? Not like he's going to die or anything." However, as soon as she said this, the huge hammer that was behind the man on the course swung down, banging into his back, causing him to fall to the ground, a huge beam hitting him as he feel, making him vanish in thin air with a puff of smoke. "What was that?" Lily asked, mouth open.

"He's been wiped out." Replied Louis.

"So, anyone who falls or…"

"Gets hit with the disintegrator beam, yeah."

"Right…" said Lily, looking around. It seemed everyone was busy getting the next contestant, who was badly shaking, ready for their turn, so sensing this distraction, Lily discreetly made her way to the corner of the room, where she'd seen a door that she could only assume as the way out.

"Wait, what are you doing?" asked Louis, who was following her.

"Getting out." She replied, not looking up from the control pad that was by the side of the door that she was trying to break into to open the door.

"But, you can't. Contestants aren't allowed outside of the games."

"So what are you doing to do? Wait for the disintegrator beam to kill you? I can see in your eyes, Louis, you don't think you've got a chance at winning this. Come with me, and I promise, I can help you." Lily could sense him hesitating. But if she could save at least one person from that beam she'd take it, even if she had to drag him out as soon as she got the door open.

"You have a plan?" he finally asked.

"I have a…friend. He's somewhere else on this station or wherever we are. He's probably got out of wherever he is by now, I can find him. And we can leave this place. How does that sound?" she asked, looking up to see that scared look gone, and a look of hope replace it.

"Sounds good." He replied. "Need a hand."

"Hold that button down." Said Lily, as she ducked under the controls to get to the wires. "If I can rearrange these wires, I should be able to transfer control…so I can open the door…ah ha! There we go!"

"So, what now? The doors still closed."

"Yes, but now, I have the code, well, kinda." She grinned at the confused look on his face as she pressed a button on the control pad, opening the door. "Simple. Come on." Lily took Louis' hand seeing him hesitating, and pulled him out of the room before anyone could notice them leaving. "Hang on a minute." She said, looking around. "This is Satellite Five."

"Satellite Five, where are you from? It's the Game Station now. You know, hence the games? Now where would your friend be?"

"I don't know. I'll check the computer."

-8-

"Blimey!" breathed Lynda. "I've never seen it for real before. Not from orbit. Planet Earth."

"What's happened to it?" asked the Doctor, confused.

"Well, it's always been like that. Ever since I was born. See that there? That's the Great Atlantic Smog Storm. It's been going twenty years. We gets newsflashes telling us when it's safe to breath outside."

"So the population just sits there? Half the world's too fat, half the world's too thin, and you lot just watch telly?"

"Ten thousand channels, all beaming down from here."

"The human race. Brainless sheep being fed on a diet of…mind you, have they still got that programme where three people have to live with a bear?"

"Oh, Bear With Me? I love that one!"

"And me. Me and Lily used to watch it all the time, she found it funny. The celebrity edition where the bear got in the bath."

"Got in the bath!" laughed Lynda.

"But it's all gone wrong. I mean, history's gone wrong again. This should be the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. I don't understand. Last time I was here I put it right."

"No, but that's when it first went wrong. A hundred years ago, like you said. All the news channels, they just shut down overnight."

"But that was me. I did that."

"There was nothing left in there place. No information. The whole planet just froze. The government, the economy, they collapsed. That was the start of it. One hundred years of hell."

"Oh my…I made this world!" The Doctor was snapped out of his thoughts by a familiar voice.

"Hey, handsome. Good to see you." Beamed Jack. "Any sign of Lily. Rose?"

"Can't you track her down?"

"No need!" The Doctor and Jack turned around to see Lily leaning against the wall behind them, a smug smile on her face. "You are so blind, Jack. How could you not know I was behind you?"

"It's good to see you!" Laughed Jack before giving her a hug. "Who's your friend?"

"Jack, Louis. Louis, this is Jack and the Doctor. Speaking of which…" Lily turned to find the Doctor smiling, before running to also give him a hug and a kiss which he gladly excepted. "I missed you." She murmured.

"I missed you."

"So, where is Rose?"

"She must still be inside the games." Replied Jack. "All the rooms are shielded."

"If I can just get inside the computer. She's got to be here somewhere." Said the Doctor.

"Well, you'd better hurry up. These games do not have a happy ending."

"You think I don't know that?"

"Here, use this." Said Jack, handing over his wrist computer. "Patch that in. It's programmed to find her."

"Thanks."

"So, where were you, then Lily?" he asked.

"Total wipeout. Completely brutal. Got out before it was our turn thank God. Hacked into the computer system by fiddling with the wires or something like that." Lily winked.

"Well, I'm just glad you're safe." Said the Doctor, kissing the top of her head before working again.

"So, who are you then?"

"Lynda." The girl replied.

"I'm Lily."

"I assumed so. The Doctor talks about you a lot."

"All good things I hope."

"Like there are any bad things to say." Murmured the Doctor, making Lily smile. "It's not compatible! This stupid system doesn't make sense! This place should be a basic broadcaster, but the systems are twice as complicated. It's more than just television. This station's transmitting something else."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. This whole Bad Wolf thing's tied up with me. Someone's manipulated my entire life. It's some sort of trap and Rose is stuck inside it."

"Wait, Bad Wolf?" asked Lily.

"Yeah…found her! Floor four, zero seven."

"Oh my God, she's with the Anne Droid! You've got to get her out of there!" cried Lynda.

"Anne Droid. That's quite clever…" mused Lily. "Come on! The lift's this way!" She said, running towards it.

"Come on, come on!"

-8-

Running out of the lift, Lily was the first one to reach the door that she knew Rose was behind. She quickly found the way to open the door, and ran through. She couldn't let anything happen to Rose. She was like family. She hadn't known many people on Gallifrey, she'd lived quite an isolated life excluding the Doctor, and now she felt like she had a family. One that she loved and actually loved her back for once. Running through the door, she saw the basic set of The Weakest Link, Rose standing at one podium and another man next to her, both facing what must be the Anne Droid.

"This game is illegal!" cried Rose. "I'm telling you to stop!"

"Rose!" shouted Lily, getting her attention. "Stop this game, right now!"

"Rose, you leave this life, with nothing." Stated the droid.

"Stop this game!" shouted Jack, who was now running behind her with the Doctor, Lynda and Louis.

"I order you to stop this game!" yelled the Doctor.

"You are the weakest link."

"Rose, get here. Run!" shouted Lily, holding out her hand.

"Look out for the Anne Droid, it's armed!" Lily held her arm out further, Rose inches away before she was shot with a beam, leaving a pile of dust near Lily's feet.

"Rose!" She knelt down next to the dust, running it through her fingers, not noticing the Doctor opposite her, and the commotion going on in the background. Rose was gone, it was her fault. If she'd been just a few inches further in front, she could have pulled Rose out of the way, saved her.

"Back off!" shouted Jack.

"I need security and I need it here right now! It's this lot!"

"Don't you touch her! Leave them alone!"

Lily was snapped out of it when an arm went under her arms hauling her up none to gently. Elbowing the person in the stomach, she lunched at the security that had been brought in, earning her a blow to the head.

"Sir, put the gun down or I'll have to shoot."

"You killed her!" shouted Jack. "Your stupid freaking game show killed her, and you've knocked Lily out!"

"She was posing as a threat. Sir, I'm arresting you under private legislation sixteen of the game station syndicate."

-8-

The Doctor sat in the prison cell that he, Jack, Lynda, Louis and Lily were currently being held in. He didn't say anything, just stroked his fingers through Lily's hair, who was still unconscious and lying with her head on his lap. It was his fault that Rose wasn't here, though he knew Lily felt the same, and it was his fault Lily was hurt. He should have protected her, protected them both. There had to be something he could have done to prevent this. He was brought out of his thoughts by Lily stirring. She lifted her head up, blinking at the sudden change of light, before narrowing her eyes as she remembered what had happened.

"You ok?" asked the Doctor. Lily nodded. The blow may have been enough to knock her unconscious, but she was able to put the pain that was left behind to the back of her mind. She had other priorities right now. She looked up as she heard a voice.

"You will be taken from this place to the Lunar Penal Colony, there to be held without trial. You may not appeal against this sentence. Is that understood?" She listened as the door was unlocked to let the guard out, before turning to the others who were watching her since she had stood up at the guard's voice.

"Let's do this thing." She said, before kicking the door open before it was locked again, letting the boys knock the rest of the guards outside out.

"Floor 500." Stated the Doctor as they entered the lift. Her and the Doctor's faces were blank, which scared Jack. He'd never known them to say nothing, one of them always had _something _to say. He wouldn't doubt if they were having one of those silent conversations through their thoughts, which they always seemed to do when they didn't want to speak.

"Okay, move away from the desk!" shouted Jack as they ran out of the lift at Floor 500. "Nobody try anything clever. Everybody clear. Stand to the side and stay there."

"Who's in charge of this place?" demanded the Doctor.

"Nineteen, eighteen." Stated a woman who was hanging from the wall. Lily frowned further. If she thought something was wrong before, it had at least doubled now.

"This satellite is more than a Game Station!"

"Seventy nine, eighty."

"Who killed Rose Tyler?" shouted Lily. She would find out, and even though it went against everything she stood for, she would avenge her. Rose was family, and Lily was in so much of a rage against those who killed her, that she wasn't thinking clearly, something that Jack saw through, but failed to mention, not wanting to aggravate her further. He was grieving for Rose as well, but he saw how close the two women were, and it was obvious that she would be so angry at those who had done it.

"All staff are reminded that solar flares…"

"I want answers!" she screamed.

"Occur in delta point one."

"She can't reply." Inputted a worker in the corner, looking scared at the furious expression on Lily's face. "Don't shoot!"

"Like he was ever going to shoot." Lily scoffed, gesturing the Doctor to throw the gun to the worker.

"Captain." Said the Doctor. "We've got more guards on the way up. Secure the exits."

"Yes, sir."

"You, what were you saying?"

"But I've got your gun." Stated the worker.

"Okay, so shoot me. Why can't she answer?"

"She's er…can I put this down?"

"If you want."

"Hurry up!" snapped Lily.

"Thanks. Sorry. The controller is linked to the transmissions. The entire output goes through her brain. You're not a member of staff so she doesn't recognize your existence."

"That's horrible!"

"What's her name?" asked the Doctor.

"I don't know. She was installed when she was five years old. That's the only life she's ever known." Lily scowled. That was sick!

"Door's sealed." Said Jack, coming back. "We should be safe for about ten minutes."

"Keep an eye on them."

"But!" interrupted the worker. "That stuff you were saying about something going on at the Game Station. I think you're right. I've kept a log. Unauthorized transmats, encrypted signals, it's been going on for years."

"Show us."

"Solar flare activity in delta point zero fifteen."

"Look, if you're not holding us hostage, then open the door and let us out. The staff are terrified." Said a woman who had come up behind them.

"You're talking about the same staff who execute hundreds of people every day. I saw what was going on in those games. It's sick!" Snapped Lily.

"That's not our fault. We're just doing our jobs."

"With that sentence, you just lost the right to talk to us, and the last shred of respect I may have held for you. Now back off! We've lost our friend, we will not lose anyone else!"

"That's just the solar flares." Said the original person they'd been talking to as the power dropped. "They interfere with the broadcast signal, so this place automatically powers down. Planet Earth gets a few repeats. It's all quite normal."

"Doctor."

"Doctor." Said the woman.

"Whatever it is, you can wait."

"I think she wants you."

"Doctor? Lily? Where are they?" asked the controller.

"We're here."

"Can't see. I'm blind. So blind. All my life, blind. All I can see is numbers, but I saw you."

"What do you want?" asked Lily gently. She was trying to push the anger down, not to lash out at people who weren't to blame, but she was sure that one little comment that got under her skin would set her off again.

"Solar flares hiding me. They can't hear me. My masters, they always listen but they can't hear me now the sun, the sun is so bright…"

"Who are your masters?" asked the Doctor.

"They wired my head. The name's forbidden. They control my thoughts. My masters. My masters, I had to be careful. They monitor transmissions but they don't watch the programmes. I could hide you inside the games. Knew that you would find me."

"Our friend died inside your games." Lily's calmness was slowing ebbing away as she found out that this was the one who made the transmat; who put Rose inside the game, the game that _killed_ her.

"Doesn't matter."

"Don't you DARE say that!" The Doctor grabbed onto her hand, rubbing circles with his thumb to calm her. He was mad, but he knew out of the two of them, Lily had the worst temper, but he knew how to calm her. Not that he was sure it would work this time, there were only a few times he'd seen her this angry, but he could try, and it seemed to work at least a little bit as he could feel her stop shaking.

"They've been hiding. My masters hiding in the dark space, watching and shaping the Earth so, so, so many years. Always been there, guiding humanity, hundreds and hundreds of years."

"Who are they?"

"They wait, and plan and grow in numbers. They're strong now. So strong, my masters."

"Who _are_ they?"

"But they speak of you, my masters. They fear the Doctor. They plot against Lily."

"Tell me." Commanded the Doctor, not liking how she was talking about Lily, as the power came back on. "Who are they?"

"Twenty one, twenty two."

"When's the next solar flare."

"Two years time."

"Fat lot of good that is."

"Found the Tardis." Said Jack.

"We're not leaving now, we can't." said Lily, not tearing her eyes away from the controller.

"No, but the Tardis worked it out. You'll want to watch this." Lily turned around, her eyebrows furrowed. "Lynda, could you stand over there for me please?"

"I just want to go home."

"It'll only take a second. Could you stand in that spot, quick as you can. Everybody watching? Okay. Three, two, one." Lily watched as a beam of light shot down, hitting Lynda, who vanished in a puff of smoke.

"You killed her!"

"Oh, do you think?" In the blink of an eye, the beam was back, as was Lynda, looking a little unsteady on her feet, but there all the same.

"What the hell was that?" asked Lynda.

"It's a transmat beam." Explained Jack. "Not a disintegrator, a secondary transmat system. People don't get killed in the games, they get transported across space. Lily, Doctor, Rose is still alive!" Lily squealed, a very uncharacteristic trait, as she ran across the room hugging Jack who lifted her off of the ground spinning.

"She's out there somewhere." Lily mused, releasing Jack and wrapping her arms around the Doctor in a comforting embrace.

"Lily. Doctor." Beckoned the Controller. "Coordinates five point six point one…"

"Don't!" shouted the Doctor. "The solar flare's gone. They'll hear you."

"…point four three four. No, my masters, no! I defy you! Stigma seven, seven…"

"They took her." Breathed Lily as she watched the controller vanish.

"Look, use that." Said the worker. "It might contain the final numbers. I kept a log of all the unscheduled transmissions."

"Nice. Thanks. Captain Jack Harkness, by the way."

"I'm Davitch Pavale."

"Nice to meet you, Davitch Pavale."

"Jack…" moaned Lily. "Really, now?"

"Are you saying this entire set up's been a disguise all along?"

"Going way back." Explained the Doctor. "Installing the Jagrafess a hundred years ago. Someone's been playing a long game, controlling the human race from behind the scenes for generations."

"Click on this." Said Jack. "The transmat delivers to that point, right on the edge of the solar system."

"There's nothing there."

"It looks like nothing because that's what this satellite does." Explained Lily, calmer now she knew that Rose was alive. "Underneath the transmission there's another signal."

"Doing what?" asked Pavale.

"Hiding whatever is out there. Hiding it from sonar, radar, scanner. Everything. There's something sitting right on top of Earth, but it's completely invisible, no one's noticed it. If I cancel out the signal however…" She trailed off, flicking a switch to reveal a fleet of ships, making Lily's eyes widen in fear, and the Doctor's grip on her tighten.

"That's impossible." Whispered Jack. "I know those ships. They were destroyed."

"They survived." Breathed Lily. "Why do they always survive…"

"Who did?" asked Louis, who had remained quiet for most of the situation. "Who are they?"

"Two hundred ships. There's more than two hundred thousand on each one. That's about half a million of them."

"Half a million what?"

"Daleks." As soon as the word passed her lips, a screen appeared at the front of the room, showing the daleks ship. Lily wiped her face clean of emotion, narrowing her eyes which were full of hate towards the creatures on the screen. They day that she showed the daleks she was fearful would not happen. She would be strong, if not for herself, but for the Doctor, for Rose and Jack.

"I will talk to the Doctor and Lily."

"Oh, will you?" joked the Doctor, tense. "That's nice, hello!"

"The dalek stratagem nears completion. The fleet is almost ready. You will not intervene."

"Oh really, why's that then?"

"We have your associate. You will obey or she will be exterminated."

"No."

"Explain yourself!"

"He said, no." repeated Lily.

"What is the meaning of this negative?"

"It means no." she explained in a voice as if she was explaining to a child.

"But she will be destroyed!"

"No!" yelled the Doctor. "Because this is what we're going to go. We're going to rescue her."

"We're going to save Rose Tyler." Continued Lily. "From the middle of the Dalek fleet, and then, we're going to save the Earth, and then…"

"Just to finish off, we're going to wipe every last stinking dalek out of the sky!"

"But you have no weapons, no defences, no plan."

"Yeah, and doesn't that just scare you to death?" Smirked Lily. "Rose?"

"Yeah, Lily?"

"We're coming to get you."

-8-

A/N: one chapter left of the ninth Doctor! And a bit of angry Lily here. Isn't she scary? I can imagine her getting very emotional if anything happens to someone she cares about, especially Jack, Rose and the Doctor. As for Louis, he isn't that big of a character, but I can't see her leaving someone who helped her in a game like that, so I got him out. And as for the wipeout scenes and what it consists of, there was no information about what it was like, only the name, so bear with me on that one. I didn't want her in a game that was the same as the others since they were all in separate games as well, so I made some of the details up. Hope it was alright!

Please remember to review and favourite!


	8. Chapter 8- The Parting Of The Ways

Chapter Eight- The Parting Of The Ways

A/N: so, last chapter of this story, then it is _on_ to series 2! I have to say, I am a lot more excited for this one. I can imagine the 10th Doctor to be a lot more open with his relationship to Lily.

"We've got incoming!" yelled Jack as Lily and the Doctor piloted the Tardis across to the dalek ship. Lily looked at the monitor, reaching over to pull a lever as she looked. She looked to see missiles heading their way. "The extrapolators working. We've got a fully functioning forcefield. well done, Lily! Now try saying that when you're drunk."

"And for our next trick!" smirked Lily, as she materialized the Tardis onboard the Tardis ship, Rose and a dalek appearing within the room.

"Rose!" shouted the Doctor. "Get down! Get down, Rose!"

"Exterminate!" Lily ducked as the dalek shot in her direction, looking away as Jack destroyed the dalek with the modified defabricator he'd been working on.

"You did it." Breathed Rose, hugging the Doctor and Lily. She'd never been so happy to see them in her life. When Lily said that they'd come and get her, she'd had her doubts, though deep down she knew that they'd come for her; they'd save her. They always did. "Feels like I haven't seen you in years."

"I told you, we were coming to get you." Assured Lily, an unsure smile on her face. She way happy to see Rose, she was safe. But just outside those doors was an army of daleks, her worst nightmare, and that terrified her. But she couldn't think of that right now, she couldn't let the fear win.

"Never doubted it."

"Me neither." Said the Doctor. "Always trust Lily to have a plan. You all right?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Not bad, been better."

"Hey, don't I get a hug?" asked Jack.

"Oh, come here!"

"I was talking to him." He joked, before hugging Rose anyway. "Welcome home."

"Oh, I thought I'd never see you again."

"Oh, you were lucky. That was just a one shot wonder. Drained the gun of all its power supply. Now it's just a piece of junk."

"But, you said they were extinct. How come they're still alive?"

"One minute they're the greatest threat in the universe, the next minute they vanished out of time and space."

"They went to fight a bigger war. The Time War." Said Lily.

"I thought that was just a legend."

"We were there." She replied, gesturing to her and the Doctor. "The war between the Time Lords and the Daleks. The whole of creation was at stake. Our people were destroyed, but they took the daleks with them. That was what I did, in the war. I went on missions, found out their weaknesses, took them down. I led the attacks that wiped out huge parts of the dalek armies. And I almost thought it was worth it, losing everything. Now it turns out they died for nothing." She looked down, the memories of the war coming to close to the front of her thoughts. She'd spent years trying to block out those thoughts, and it was not easy being trapped in a cell with a dalek nearby, but she'd managed to do it, with a dalek _army_ just outside the doors, was bringing it all back.

"There's thousands of them now. We could hardly stop one. What're we going to do?" asked Rose. She was worried; she'd never seen Lily so worried, so scared, even though she knew she was trying not to show it.

"No good sitting here chin wagging!" said the Doctor. "Human race, you'd gossip all day. The daleks have got the answers. Let's go and meet the neighbours."

"You can't go out there." Lily took a deep breath, opening the doors. Outside, there were the sides of the ship that almost looked like stands, thousands of daleks surrounding them.

"Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!" Lily smirked seeing that the shots were being stopped by the forcefield surrounding them and the Tardis. She felt safe, for now.

"Is that it?" she asked "Useless! No points for you then. Come on Rose, there's a forcefield around us. Extended. Can hold back anything."

"Almost anything." Corrected Jack.

"Yes, well. The thing is, I wasn't going to tell them that. Well done."

"Sorry."

"Do you know what they call the Doctor in the ancient legends of the Dalek homeworld? The Oncoming Storm. And I'm the Impending Darkness." She saw out of the corner of her eye the surprised look on the Doctor's face when she said that. "Because when I came, that's all the daleks saw. Darkness. You may have removed all of your emotions, but I know, that deep, deep down in your DNA, there's a tiny little bit of fear left, and doesn't it just burn when you hear our names? So, how did you survive the Time War? Tell me."

"They survived through me." Lily's head shot to the side to see a huge portion of the room that was originally surrounded in darkness be lit up, revealing what Lily knew to be the Dalek Emperor.

"Rose, Captain, this is the Emperor of the Daleks." Breathed the Doctor.

"You destroyed us, Time Lords. The dalek race died in your inferno, but my ship survived, falling through time, crippled, but alive."

"I get it."

"Do not interrupt!" echoed daleks throughout the room.

"I think you're forgetting something. I'm the Doctor, and if there's one thing I can do, it's talk. I've got five billion languages, and you haven't got one way of stopping me. So if anybody's going to shut up, it's YOU! Ok. So, where were we?"

"We waited here in the dark space, damaged but rebuilding. Centuries passed, and we quietly infiltrated the systems of Earth, harvesting the waste of humanity. The prisoners, the refugees, the dispossessed. They all came to us. The bodies were filtered, pulped, sifted. The seed of the human race is perverted. Only one cell in a billion was fit to be nurtured."

"So you created an army of daleks out of the dead."

"That makes them half human." Stated Rose.

"Do not blaspheme!" echoed the daleks.

"Everything human has been purged! I cultivated pure and blessed daleks!"

"Since when did daleks have a concept of blasphemy?" asked Lily.

"I reached into the dirt and made new life. I am the god of all daleks!"

"Worship him! Worship him! Worship him!"

"They've gone insane." Lily's eyebrows were furrowed. "They've been hiding in silence for hundreds of years, and that's enough to drive anyone insane."

"But it's worse than that." Agreed the Doctor. "Driven mad by your own flesh. The stink of humanity. You hate your own existence. And that makes them more deadly than ever. We're going."

"You may not leave my presence!" boomed the emperor.

"Stay where you are! Exterminate! Exterminate!"

Lily rolled her eyes as they all stepped into the Tardis, moving back to floor 500 on the game station.

"Turn everything up!" ordered the Doctor as he stepped back out. "All transmitters full power, wide open. Now! Do it!"

"What does this do?" asked Pavale.

"Stops the daleks from transmatting on board. How did you get on? Did you contact Earth?"

"Well, we tried to warn them, but all they did was suspend our license because we stopped the programmes."

"So the planet is defenseless. It's just sitting there? Louis, Lynda, what are you both still doing here? I thought the Doctor told you to evacuate everyone?" asked Lily. She liked Louis. He was a good person; he'd helped her when he didn't need to back in the game, tried to reassure her, and comfort her, and she'd got him out. Staying here was only putting him in more danger.

"They wouldn't go."

"We couldn't leave you." Said Louis.

"There weren't enough shuttles anyway." Said the woman that had previously angered Lily before they left. "Or I wouldn't be here. We've got about a hundred people stranded on floor zero."

"Oh, my God!" startled Pavale, stopping Lily from punching the woman in the face at how mean she was being. "The fleet is moving. They're on their way."

"Dalek plan." Started the Doctor. "Big mistake, because what have they left me with? Anyone? Anyone?" Lily smiled at him, seeing the plan in his mind. "Oh, come on. It's obvious! A great big transmitter. This station. If I can change the signal, fold it back, sequence it, anyone?"

"A delta wave." Explained Lily, seeing the blank look on everyone's faces. Well, everyone except Jack who had a look of wonder on his face.

"A delta wave!"

"What's a delta wave?" asked Rose.

"A wave of Van Cassadyne energy." Said Lily. "It fries your brain so to speak. Well, actually, it literally does that. Stand in the way of a delta wave, and your head gets, as Jack would say, barbequed."

"And this place can transmit a massive wave. Wipe out the daleks!" cheered the Doctor. Lily smiled along with him, though even without reading the Doctor's mind, she knew the side effect of this plan.

"Well." Said Lynda. "Get started, and do it then!"

"Trouble is, wave this size, building this big, brain as clever as mine, should take about, oh, three days? How long till the fleet arrive?"

"Twenty two minutes." Replied Pavale as Lily rolled her eyes at the Doctor's big-headedness.

-8-

"We've now got a forcefield so they can't blast us out of the sky, but that doesn't stop the daleks from physically invading." Informed Jack.

"Do they know about the delta wave?" asked Pavale.

"They'll have worked it out at the same time. So, they want to stop Lily and the Doctor. That means they've got to get to this level, five hundred. Now, I can concentrate the extrapolator around the top six levels, five hundred to floor nine five. So they'll penetrate the station below that at level four nine four and fight their way up."

"Who are they fighting?"

"Us."

"And what are we fighting with?"

"The guards had guns with basic bullets. That's enough to blow a dalek wide open."

"There's five of us." Said a woman standing to the side.

"Rose." Said the Doctor. "You can help us. I need all the wires stripping bare."

"Right, now there's four of us."

"Then let's move it. Into the lift. Isolate the lift controls."

"I just want to say, er…thanks, I suppose. And I'll do my best." Said Lynda.

"Yeah." Agreed Louis. "I mean, if it wasn't for you, I'd probably already be dead, so, thanks."

"Me too." Said Lily, hugging him before he and Lynda ran off.

"It's been fun, but I guess this is goodbye." Said Jack, hugging Lily as well.

"Yeah." Whispered Lily.

"Don't talk like that!" urged Rose. "They're going to do it. You just watch them."

"Rose, you are worth fighting for." Lily watched as he kissed her, smiling. "Wish I'd never met you Doctor. I was much better off as a coward. And Lily, so glad I met you. Learnt things about myself I never knew. Thank you. I better not kiss you, the Doctor will get jealous. See you in hell."

"He's going to be alright, isn't he?" asked Rose. Lily exchanged a look with the Doctor before starting to strip the wires, not answering her questions. "Suppose."

"Suppose what?" asked Lily, not looking up.

"Nothing."

"No, what is it?"

"No, I was just thinking. I mean, obviously you can't, but, you've got a time machine. Why can't you just go back to last week and warn them?"

"As soon as the Tardis lands in that second, we become part of events, stuck in the timeline."

"Yeah, thought it'd be something like that."

"There's another thing the Tardis could do." Added the Doctor, looking up. "It could take us away. We could leave. Let history take its course. We go to Marbella in 1989."

"Yeah, but you'd never do that. Lily wouldn't let you, anyway."

"No, but you could ask. Never even occurred to you, did it?"

"Well, I'm just to good."

"No." corrected Lily. "You're fantastic." She said, grinning at the Doctor as she said that.

"The Delta Wave's started building. How long does it need?" asked the Doctor.

"Is that bad?" asked Rose. "Okay, it's bad. How bad is it?"

"Rose Tyler, you're a genius! We can do it. If I use the Tardis to cross my old timeline! Yes!" Lily watched as they both ran into the Tardis. "Hold that down and keep position."

"What's it do?"

"Cancels the buffer. If I'm very clever and I'm more than clever, I'm brilliant, I might just save the world. Or rip it apart…"

"I'd go for the first one."

"Me too. Now, I've just got to go and power up the game station. Hold on!" Lily continued to watch as the Doctor shut the Tardis doors, holding out his sonic screwdriver to send Rose and the Tardis back home. "I had to do it. I had to." He assured her.

"I know, Doctor, I know." Lily replied, giving him a hug, fighting back the tears. They couldn't risk losing Rose. They thought they'd lost her once, they weren't going to lose her again. The Doctor would have made Lily go with her if she hadn't known what he was doing. He needed to keep her safe, but even then, he knew she wouldn't leave him. She'd vowed that the moment she entered the Tardis and they'd had their first trip. She wasn't ever going to leave him.

-8-

"Rose, I've called up the internal laser codes." Came Jack's voice over the intercom. "There should be a different number on every screen. Can you read them out to me?"

"She's not here." Replied Lily, not liking how her voice sounded. It was almost void of emotion, a hint of sadness underlying it.

"Of all times to take a leak. When she gets back, tell her to read me the codes."

"She's not coming back."

"What do you mean? Where'd she go?"

"Just get on with your work." Snapped the Doctor.

"You took her home, didn't you?"

"Yeah."

"The Delta Wave, is it ever going to be ready?"

"Tell him the truth Time Lords." Came the dalek emperor's voice on the viewscreen. "There is every possibility the Delta Wave could be complete, but no possibility of refining it. The Delta Wave must kill every living thing in its path, with no distinction between human and dalek. All things will die, by your hands."

"Doctor, Lily, the range of this transmitter covers the entire Earth."

"You would destroy daleks and humans together. If I am God, the creator of all things, what does that make you?"

"There are colonies out there." Said the Doctor, sounding like he was trying to convince himself as well as the daleks and Jack. "The human race would survive in some shape or form, but you're the only daleks in existence. The whole universe is in danger if I let you live. Do you see, Jack? That's the decision we have to make for every living thing. I know Lily will support me. It's die as a human or live as a dalek. What would you do?"

"You sent her home." Supported Jack. "She's safe. Keep working."

"But they will exterminate you!"

"Never doubted them. Never will."

"Now, tell us, the God of all daleks." Said Lily. "There is one thing that we never worked out. Bad Wolf. The words that have been spread across the whole of space and time, everywhere, drawing us in. How did you do that?"

"I did nothing."

"Oh, come on!" scoffed the Doctor. "There's no secrets no, your worship."

"They are not part of my design. This is the truth of God." Lily sighed as the transmission ended, holding her head in her hands. It was strange what your thoughts drifted to when you knew you were going to die. She always thought that all the bad things she did would come back to haunt her, but all she could think about were all the happy times she'd ever had, with the Doctor, Jack, and Rose, and those thoughts spurred her on. Made her work harder to get the delta wave finished. She couldn't save herself or the Doctor, but at least they would go together, just as they'd always wanted it to be.

"Louis, Lynda." Said Lily, her head still cast down. "What's happening on Earth?"

"The fleet's descending. They're bombing whole continents. Europa, Pacifica, the New American Alliance. Australasia's just…gone. I've got a problem. They've found us."

"You'll be alright." Assured the Doctor, not letting the worried look on his face come across through his voice. "That side of the station's reinforced against meteors."

"Hope so! You know what they say about Earth workmanship."

Lily took a deep breath, waiting to see what would happen, when she heard two screams coming through the intercom. She gave out a frustrated scream, clutching her hair in her hands. She'd saved Louis from that hell of a game, just to have him killed not a day later. It was her fault. She should have saved him. She'd vowed no more deaths, and here she was, prepared to kill the Earth to rid the universe of the daleks, and the thing that scared her was she knew it was worth it. It would save more lives than it would cost, she was sure of that, but could she _actually_ do it? Yes, the Doctor was with her, he would support her as she supported him.

"Last man standing." Came Jack's voice. "For god's sake, Lily, Doctor, finish that thing and kill them!"

"Finish that thing, and kill mankind." Echoed the emperor's voice.

"Doctor, you've got twenty seconds maximum!"

"Exterminate!" Tears fell down Lily's face as she realized Jack was dead. The man she had considered family was _dead. _

"It's ready!" shouted the Doctor as daleks entered the room surrounding them in the middle of the room. "You really want to think about this, because if I activate the signal, every living creature dies."

"I am immortal." Boomed the emperor.

"Do you want to put that to the test?"

"I want to see you become like me. Hail the Doctor, the great exterminator!"

"I'll do it!"

"Then prove yourself Doctor. What are you, coward or killer? What would your love say?" Lily gave him a supporting smile, knowing what he was going to do.

"Coward, any day."

"Mankind will be harvested because of your weakness."

"And what about us, then? Are we becoming some of your angels?"

"You are the heathen. You will be exterminated." Lily breathed in as she stepped in front of the Doctor. She wouldn't let anything happen to him while she still drew breath. There was still him that she could save. She would save him.

"Alert!" said a dalek that was in the room. "Tardis materializing!"

"You will not escape." Stated the emperor. Lily looked forward, being the closest to where the Tardis was appearing out of her and the Doctor, to indeed see their ship appearing on the station. As soon as it landed, the doors flew open, revealing Rose, surrounded in a bright, golden light that Lily knew was the vortex.

"What have you done Rose?" she breathed.

"I looked into the Tardis, and the Tardis looked into me."

"You looked into the time vortex. Rose, no one's meant to see that!" shouted the Doctor.

"This is abomination!" yelled the emperor.

"I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself. I take the words, I scatter them in time and space. A message to lead myself here."

"Rose, please stop!" begged Lily. "You've got to stop. You're going to burn. The entire vortex is running through your mind. You're not safe."

"I want you safe. My Time Lords. My Doctor and my Lily. Protected from the false God."

"You cannot hurt me!" argued the emperor. "I am immortal."

"You are tiny. I can see the whole of time and space. Every single atom of your existence, and I divide them. Everything must come to dust. All things. Everything dies. The Time War ends." Lily watched as tears streamed down her face seeing her friend like this as the daleks disintegrated into piles of dust before her eyes. The Doctor had a tight grip on her waist to prevent her from doing anything rash, and before she knew it, the entire dalek fleet was gone. Turned to dust.

"Rose, you've done it. Now stop. Just let go."

"How can I let go of this? I bring life."

"But this is wrong! You can't control life and death."

"But I can. The sun and the moon, the day and night. But why do they hurt?"

"The power's going to kill you, and…it's my fault." Said the Doctor.

"I can see everything. All that is, all that was, all that could ever be."

"That's what we see. All the time. And doesn't it drive you mad? Don't know why Lily puts up with me." Joked the Doctor, despite the situation.

"My head."

"Come here."

"It's killing me." The Doctor moved forward, leaning his forehead against Rose, the vortex leaving her and going into him. He knew Lily was going to do it. He'd seen the idea in her head the moment Rose stepped out of the Tardis; her mind coming up with hundreds of solutions to rid her of the vortex, and this was the best, the most effective. But he couldn't let her do it. It would hurt her, kill her, and he would save her from that. Lily watched as the golden energy transferred from Rose to the Doctor. The Doctor had pushed her out of the way to get to Rose, seeing the plan in her mind, and now she was helpless. Stopping it now would only result in double the trouble they were in now, she couldn't do anything, and that killed her inside. She'd told herself she'd save the Doctor this time, and she'd failed. It would be too much for him. The Doctor picked Rose up as she fainted in his arms, carrying her into the Tardis, Lily following. The doors closed behind her, the familiar sounds of the Tardis dematerializing being heard in the room.

"What happened?" asked Rose, as she regained consciousness.

"Don't you remember?"

"It's like there was this singing."

"That's right. I sang a song and the daleks ran away." Joked the Doctor.

"You're voice is bad enough." Retorted Lily, who was still silently crying.

"I was at home." Continued Rose. "No, I wasn't. I was in the Tardis. And there was this light. I can't remember anything else."

"Rose Tyler. I was going to take you to so many places. Barcelona. Not the city Barcelona, the planet Barcelona. You'd love it. Fantastic place. They've got dogs with no noses. Imagine how many times a day you end up telling that joke, and it's still funny."

"Then, why can't we go?" asked Rose, looking worriedly between the Doctor who looked like he was in pain, and Lily who was still crying.

"Maybe you will, and maybe I will. Heck, Lily will probably make us take you. But not with me like this."

"You're not making sense."

"I might never make sense again. I might have two heads, or no head. Imagine me with no head." Lily gave a chuckle. "And don't say that's an improvement. But it's a bit dodgy, this process. You never know what you're going to end up with." Lily ran forward as the Doctor doubled over in pain, rubbing her thumb over his hand. She was safe staying with him right until the final stages, more immune to the regeneration energy than other species who were not used to it. "Stay away Rose." Warned the Doctor as she inched forwards. "You're not safe."

"Doctor, tell me what's going on. Lily!"

"I absorbed all the energy of the time vortex, and no one's meant to do that. Every cell in my body's dying."

"Can't you do something?"

"Yeah, I'm doing it now. Time lords have this little trick, it's sort of a way of cheating death. You may have saw Lily do it when we met her, although I don't think you noticed. Except it means I'm going to change, and I'm not going to see you again. Not like this. Not with this daft old face."

"I like that daft old face." Argued Lily.

"And before I go…"

"Don't say that." Cried Rose.

"Rose, before I go, I just want to tell you, you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And do you know what, so was I!"

"I'll still love you." Said Lily, wanting to get this in before he changed. "I've loved you since we met, that's not going to change, you know that, right?" The Doctor gave her a smile, telling her he heard before golden light burst out of his body, the force pushing Lily back into the console. She watched as his body changed, the light gradually disappearing, revealing how he now looked. His hair was longer, now a lighter brown than it had been, he looked younger with dark brown eyes, and even though she loved the old Doctor, she could tell that she would love the new one. It wasn't that he was bad looking in her opinion. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

"Hello. Okay. Ooo, new teeth, that's weird. So, where was I? Oh, that's right. Barcelona."

-8-

A/N: and that's it! This story is over! I'll be continuing the next series in a new story that will soon be posted. It will be up on my profile hopefully within the next week, and I have to say, I am a lot more excited for this next series than I was for this one. I wasn't sure how to do the whole bad wolf thing, so I just left it how it was inputting Lily here and there, but I couldn't have the Doctor kiss Rose. Can you imagine Lily's reaction? Besides, I always felt like he didn't have to kiss her to get the vortex out, so I changed it.

Much love to everyone who has favourited etc… Please remember to still review and subscribe!


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